A Long Beach woman was sentenced to four years in prison today for drunkenly crashing into and killing a beloved local grandfather who worked as a custodian at Cal State Long Beach.
The short prison term was a disappointment to the family of 60-year-old Rodger Watkins, who was driving to work on the night of Feb. 20 when 31-year-old Julie Haq slammed into him at nearly 90 mph, according to prosecutors.
Because of the time she’s already spent on house arrest during the judicial process, Haq’s sentence was further shortened to 882 days — or about two-and-a-half years.
The sentence comes after Haq pleaded no contest in October to one count of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated — a crime that’s typically punishable by 4, 6, or 10 years in state prison.
In front of roughly 40 members of Watkins’ family and friends wearing purple rose lapel pins in his honor, Long Beach Superior Court Judge Judith Meyer detailed the reasons she doled out the minimum sentence — including a psychologist’s report that Haq had suffered abuse in the past. The shorter sentence was also warranted, Meyer said, because Haq had no prior convictions and she had quickly taken responsibility for her actions and tried to atone for them.
Meyer offered words of advice for Watkins’ family in dealing with the tragedy and said this was the hardest case that has come through her courtroom in her 18 years on the bench.
“There’s no such thing as justice in a case of this nature,” Meyer said. “Nobody is going to walk out of here happy. The only thing I’m bringing today is closure.”
Watkins’ family brought a framed page from his personal notebook to the courtroom. The page — salvaged from the night’s wreckage — contained gratitudes that Watkins read daily ranging from thankfulness for his family and job to his health.
The family also brought three pictures of Watkins to the courtroom. One was signed with positive messages from dozens of his CSULB coworkers.
Last week, the university presented Watkins’ family with an award commemorating his work in the campus community at their year-end gathering.
“His absence is felt every single day by his family, friends and everyone who knew him,” Asia Watkins, one of Watkins’ daughters, said in the courtroom. “He found true wealth not in material possession, but in the love and joy he shared with everyone around him.”
Another of his children, David Pacheco, said he drives over 100 miles per day for work and now has a constant fear of potential collisions on the road.
“His life was stolen from us,” Pacheco said in the courtroom. “He was more than just my stepfather, he was a pillar in our family.”
Along with entering her no-contest plea in October, Haq read a letter apologizing to the family for her actions and explaining in further detail the circumstances leading up to the crash.
She wrote that she had been sick for six days and a friend had offered to bring over soup. Haq wrote that the friend brought two bottles of wine, which they finished over the span of three and a half hours.
Later, Haq received a “frantic phone call” from another friend’s husband who said her friend was having a medical emergency. He asked Haq to go to the UC Irvine ER to help watch over their sleeping 8-month-old child or to stay at their house overnight to help with their dog.
Haq never made it there. Prosecutors said she ran a red light at Atlantic Avenue and Anaheim Street and sent Watkins’ car careening into a building.
Last week, that building at the northeast corner of the intersection was reduced to rubble.
Mariela Salgado, another of Watkins’ children, said the sentencing outcome was a disappointment, but not a surprise.
Salgado said her family has received support from another grieving Long Beach woman, Lily Gossage, whose 16-year-old son was killed while he was crossing the street in 2021.
Salgado said Gossage warned her family not to have high expectations.
In Gossage’s case, the man who pleaded no contest to killing her son, Aiden, was sentenced to six months in county jail, followed by 30 days of community service and two years of formal probation.
One of Salgado’s children, Noelle, still has an unopened box of chocolates she received from Watkins, her grandfather, on Valentine’s Day.
In a courtroom statement, the 11-year-old Noelle remembered going to play basketball with Watkins and then stopping afterward for snacks.
“Now every time we go somewhere, we can’t ask him to come along,” she said. “He made everything more fun.”