Illegal immigrant gets 1-year sentence for fatal hit-and-run death

An unlawful immigrant who pleaded responsible to killing a South Carolina scholar in a hit-and-run shall be launched subsequent yr after serving his one-year jail sentence.

Rosali Fernandez-Cruz was admitted to the state Division of Corrections on Aug. 14, 2025, in response to South Carolina Division of Corrections data.

His anticipated launch date is March 2, 2026. Fernandez-Cruz pleaded responsible to hit-and-run inflicting demise — probably the most critical cost in opposition to him — in response to Robert Kittle, communications director for the legal professional basic’s workplace, who spoke to Fox Information Digital.

There was no plea settlement and prosecutors knowledgeable the decide about different traffic-related prices in opposition to Fernandez-Cruz, Kittle stated.

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Rosali Fernandez-Cruz, 24, pleaded responsible to killing a South Carolina scholar in a hit-and-run and can spend only one yr in jail. (Columbia PD)

“The decide decided the sentence, which was one yr,” he stated.

Fernandez-Cruz, an unlawful immigrant from El Salvador, obtained the sunshine sentence for the April 2 demise of 21-year-old Nathaniel Baker in Columbia. Baker was a junior on the College of South Carolina and a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.

Fernandez-Cruz was accused of failing to yield and hanging Baker, who was using a motorbike. He then fled the scene, authorities stated.

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College of South Carolina scholar Nate Baker (R), 21, died in a motorbike accident on April 2, 2025. Rosali Fernandez-Cruz (L), an unlawful immigrant, pleaded responsible to the demise and can serve a yr in jail, South Carolina officers stated. (South Carolina Division of Corrections; Fiji South Carolina)

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Kittle famous that Baker’s household has forgiven Fernandez-Cruz and that they have been consulted concerning the sentence earlier than it was imposed.

“They did not need this to be politicized or extremely publicized,” he stated. “They agreed with the responsible plea and the sentence.”

Fernandez-Cruz was needed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) earlier than the crash, police stated.

A Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) supply advised Fox Information on the time that Fernandez-Cruz was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol brokers in Hidalgo, Texas, on December 24, 2016.

College of South Carolina scholar Nate Baker was killed in a collision. (Tricia McLaughlin through X)

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Almost two years later, on September 6, 2018, an immigration decide in Charlotte, North Carolina, ordered Fernandez-Cruz deported to El Salvador.

After his launch, Fernandez-Cruz shall be taken into custody to start deportation proceedings.