A woman who drove drunk on the wrong side of Interstate 8 in Del Cerro, causing a head-on crash with an oncoming SUV and killing its driver, was sentenced Thursday to six years in state prison. Briana Michelle Contreras, 25, was behind the wheel of an eastbound Honda Civic that collided with a Nissan Kicks about 12:45 a.m. on Jan. 13, 2024. The impact gravely injured the Nissan’s driver, 49-year-old Cecilia Echeverria, who died at a hospital. Contreras was also seriously injured. She pleaded guilty last year to charges that include gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. San Diego Superior Court Judge Polly Shamoon indicated she would consider a maximum six-year prison term when she took Contreras’ plea and imposed that sentence on Thursday afternoon. Deputy District Attorney Deven Klee said Contreras’ blood-alcohol level was “nearly double” the legal driving limit in California when she struck Echeverria’s vehicle in the slow lane of the freeway. In arguing for a prison term rather than the defense’s request of probation, the prosecutor argued the crash was “more egregious” than other DUIs due to Contreras’ profession as a nurse at Scripps Mercy Hospital. Klee said it was “very admirable that she did dedicate part of her young life to helping people in this way,” but said she chose to get behind the wheel while intoxicated while she “assuredly has at some point treated a patient who may have been a victim of a collision or an incident involving alcohol.” Contreras’ defense attorney, Jeremy Fredrickson-Aguilar, highlighted his client’s remorse, lack of criminal history when asking for probation, with a suspended prison sentence. Contreras apologized to the victim’s family members in attendance at Thursday’s sentencing hearing, telling them she had “constant and deep regret” over what happened and said, “My choices were reckless and out of character.”