After a jury found Raul Benitez-Santana guilty of vehicular homicide and vehicular assault for the death of Washington State Patrol (WSP) Trooper Christopher Gadd on June 4, a judge sentenced him Wednesday.
He was sentenced to 125 months for vehicular homicide and 14 months for vehicular assault. Those sentences will run concurrently.
The jury found Raul Benitez-Santana guilty of vehicular homicide and vehicular assault, while also determining he was impaired while driving.
Trooper Gadd’s wife, Cameron Gadd, and mother, Gillian Gadd, gave testimony to the judge before Benetiz-Santana was sentenced.
His wife became emotional while reading her statement.
The victim advocate had to read her statement for her.
“We will never get a chance of to finish building our family,” the advocate read. “The night that Chris was killed, I couldn’t believe he was gone until I felt his cold pale hand.”
Gadd’s mother was emotional during her testimony, too.
She called for the judge to hand down the maximum sentence for vehicular homicide in Washington.
“He’s destroyed our life. His own life and his family’s lives. Can we please care enough to keep him incarcerated?” Gillian Gadd said.
The defense argued for a sentence of 95 months, saying that Benetiz-Santana has worked on himself in custody through courses to help rehabilitate him.
As she laid out Benetiz-Santana’s sentence, Judge Karen Moore told him she believed he is remorseful.
However, she argued the facts of the case speak for themselves.
“So, I find the argument offensive and insensitive,” Judge Moore said. “Regardless of how I feel about that argument, it’s the facts of this case that drive a terrible choice of words.”
Benitez-Santana was accused of driving at an excessive speed after drinking and smoking marijuana before crashing into the back of a WSP cruiser on I-5.
After the impact, his car swerved into traffic and was hit by another vehicle.
Trooper Christopher Gadd, who had been sitting in the cruiser with his lights off, was killed.
Jurors deliberated for about four and a half hours following closing arguments.
During the case, detectives showed data that suggested Benitez-Santana was traveling over 100 miles per hour in the seconds before the crash.
“Mr. Benitez-Santana was exactly the sort of driver that Trooper Gadd was looking for,” said prosecuting attorney Tobin Darrow. “That was specifically his purpose. That was his duty.”
Throughout the case, defense attorneys pushed back on the evidence collected, including speed data and the results of a blood test that showed Benitez-Santana tested over the legal limit for intoxication.
“Failures in the blood collection process, storage and testing are reason to doubt these results,” one of Benitez-Santana’s attorneys said.
They also sought to poke holes in the broader investigation by claiming investigators led with tunnel vision on Benitez-Santana.
The arguments were not enough to sway the jury.
“Obviously we’re very satisfied with the jury’s verdict,” said Snohomish County Prosecutor Jason Cummings.. “It was a difficult, emotional case. My heart still goes out to the family and with the troopers who are out there today.”
©2025 Cox Media Group
