Driver sentenced to two years in prison for vehicular homicide

“It was more than a bad decision”

By Katherine Nettles

An 18-year-old man was sentenced to prison this week for his actions last fall that took the life of 38-year-old Crested Butte resident Heather Cooper. Dylan Blessing-Garcia appeared in District Court on Monday, March 30, before Judge Kellie Starritt of the 7^th Judicial Court. He had pled guilty earlier this year to vehicular homicide-reckless driving, a class 4 felony, after causing a head-on collision with Cooper that took place on November 5, 2025 on Highway 135 near the Roaring Judy Fish Hatchery. After hearing from multiple speakers representing both the victim and the defendant, Judge Starritt sentenced Blessing-Garcia to two years in the state’s Department of Corrections.

The hearing was an emotional one as family members on both sides, as well as a witnesses, a scene investigator, friends of Cooper, and Blessing-Garcia himself spoke about the significance of the tragic events on November 5 and the impact Cooper’s death has had on all involved and in the wider community across the Gunnison Valley.

The prosecution presented their case first, and in an outpouring of support for the victim more than two dozen people were in attendance on Cooper’s behalf.  Her mother, two sisters and several friends shared victim impact statements with the court, each asking for a maximum or near-maximum allowable sentence to hold Blessing-Garcia accountable for his crime.

Cooper’s mother, Page Provence, described her daughter’s positive influence in many people’s lives as a beloved sister, aunt, daughter, coach, teacher, teammate, coworker and friend. “She was a light in this world,” said Provence. “Her life was irreplaceable.”

Cooper’s oldest sister, Averi Cooper Blackmon, said she believes in forgiveness and will not harbor hate in her heart but also believes in holding people accountable. “Accountability is not bad, it can be a turning point in someone’s life,” she said. “We all have to live with consequences.”

Cooper’s other sister, CB resident Jill Cooper, described her sister as a selfless person who moved her entire life to CB to support her and her young children as she went through a difficult time. “Heather was irreplaceable. She was my person who always had my back,” she said, adding that there could be “no compensation for the void her loss has left in our lives.”

Several friends spoke as well, describing how much Cooper meant to her family and friends.

Jacob Fox, a witness to the collision, said he was traveling northbound to CB that morning and around the Ohio Creek area several vehicles started passing slower vehicles. “I instantly perked up because it was a crazy move,” he said of Blessing-Garcia’s move to pass a vehicle later in the drive. He said he observed the collision and tried to help Cooper afterward but quickly realized there was nothing he could do. 

Officer Dennis Williams, an accident reconstructionist for the vehicular crimes unit of the Colorado State Patrol, said multiple witnesses reported a group of vehicles passing others that day, “jumping out in every straight spot or passing zone.”

Williams confirmed the data collected showed Blessing-Garcia was going 87 miles per hour and using 99% of the throttle to accelerate leading up to the collision. “Miss Cooper was driving 51 miles per hour, four miles per hour under the speed limit,” he said.

“It appeared Dylan had seen her and tried to drive off the road; unfortunately, she tried to do the same thing,” he said.

Williams said the investigation found no impairment in either driver.

“Speed and reckless driving are considered to be factors,” he said. “I found that the defendant demonstrated an attitude of universal malice, knowingly engaging in conduct that posed a grave risk to the lives of other people, and did in fact cause the death of Heather Cooper. His fault in this death is considered clear and present.”

Assistant district attorney Jessica Waggoner asked the court to impose six years on Blessing-Garcia in the Department of Corrections, the maximum allowable for his crime.

“We are looking at the person and not just the accident,” she said. “Trooper Williams described many conscious choices,” she listed, as well as “malicious ignorance to other people’s lives going on around him. This was his conscious choice. Miss Cooper was attempting to flee,” continued Waggoner. “She was given no choices that day.”

Waggoner also provided several photos of the crash scene, including one that showed the blind curve approaching the impact site.

Waggoner noted Blessing-Garcia had been in an accident in February 2025, in which he impacted two other cars when his brakes had failed. Charges had not been filed on him. She concluded, “This was a clear and conscious choice to disregard every aspect of safe driving that we try to teach our children.”

After a brief recess, the defendant’s father, Michael Blessing-Garcia, spoke on behalf of his son. “He made decisions that were wrong, we all know it’s his fault. But he had no malicious intent, he simply didn’t know any better,” he said.

He described his son as “a good kid that has no ill will toward anybody.”

His mother also spoke. “I understand that my son has made mistakes and understand the seriousness of the situation,” she said. She stated the situation has been very painful for the family, and that they will continue to support and guide her son “so he can make better choices. I believe he understands his mistake and wants to learn from it.”

Dylan spoke last and expressed remorse.

“I want to say I am sorry for my inexcusable actions,” he said. “It was never my intent and I never wanted to harm anyone much less take the life of people’s loved one. I understand there’s a lot I need to learn…there’s no excuse for my shameful actions. This will be something that will forever haunt me. It will be a shame that I will carry with me for the rest of my life,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

Defense attorney Mark Rubinstein presented some context for his client’s decisions that day, noting he was a new driver, and was working at his uncle’s construction site in Crested Butte when he was sent to Gunnison for a box of nails, told to hurry back so they could get started.

“He was stressed about that,” said Rubinstein. “On the way back, he saw other people passing a lot of cars. He saw other people doing it and thought it would be okay. Clearly they were doing it in safer places.”

Rubinstein said Blessing-Garcia has had his own share of adversity in life, having been raised partially in foster care while his mother was in prison, and being encouraged to “grow up fast” in a stoic setting with uncles eager for his financial contribution. Blessing-Garcia’s aunt was killed by a drunk driver, and Rubinstein said Blessing-Garcia had a lot of anger toward that driver. “He understands how many people in this courtroom feels toward him,” he acknowledged.

Rubinstein described Blessing-Garcia as an otherwise very responsible young man who graduated from high school in 2025 with good grades and a scholarship to attend college.

Rubinstein addressed some perceptions that the defendant had not expressed remorse for the incident until the sentencing. “He has obtained therapy,” he said, and reported Blessing-Garcia has demonstrated growth and is working to be more vulnerable after having been “really, really shut down after this accident.”

Rubinstein argued that Blessing-Garcia has a high likelihood of success if granted probation. “He is young and can learn from this,” he said.

Judge Starritt said Blessing-Garcia had been screened for community corrections and was not found to need rehabilitation for substance abuse issues. Supervised probation was recommended, she noted.

She said she would have hoped his prior accident “would give someone pause” to be a more cautious driver, and that while she had been inclined to impose a sentence of supervised probation, one photo of the blind corner on the roadway had struck her to choose differently.

“On that particular curve, at that particular time, someone was going to die,” she said. “That has changed my mind.”

Community safety is an overriding decision for the court, she said. “If it wasn’t going to be her, it was going to be a family. It was going to be someone else,” said Starritt. “It was more than a bad decision.”

She sentenced Blessing-Garcia to two years in the Department of Corrections with credit for time served, which was 47 days leading up to the hearing.

“I hope you will learn from this. It seems like you will, and have already started,” she concluded.