Lakeisha Holloway, now known as Paris Morton, received an 18-year prison sentence for plowing her car into a crowd on the Las Vegas Strip in 2015, killing Arizona mother Jessica Valenzuela. Valenzuela was on an anniversary trip with her husband when the crash occurred. The sentencing followed a decade of legal delays due to mental health issues.
Paris Morton, formerly Lakeisha Holloway, was sentenced last week to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon and battery with use of a deadly weapon. The incident took place in December 2015 when Morton, then 24, homeless and living in her car with her young daughter, veered off Las Vegas Boulevard and struck 37 pedestrians on the sidewalk, killing Jessica Valenzuela, a mother of three from Arizona. Prosecutors described the crash as stemming from a mental breakdown after Morton traveled from Oregon to Las Vegas, where she had been staying in parking garages before being moved by security. She recalled bodies bouncing off her windshield but could not explain driving onto the sidewalk, according to a police report cited by The Associated Press. Valenzuela's daughters, Layla and Giana, testified at the hearing broadcast by KSNV. Layla, who was 8 at the time, tearfully recounted asking her father, Axel Valenzuela, 'Where's mommy? Where's mommy? I want to see her. Where is she?' after he returned alone from the trip. Giana, then 9, said she never told her mother goodbye because they expected her home soon. 'I think about that a lot,' Giana added. The case spanned over a decade, with Morton deemed not competent to stand trial in 2020 and competent in 2021 following evaluations at a state psychiatric facility. She pleaded guilty in August 2025. Sobbing during sentencing, Morton addressed the family: 'Your pain, I have never taken for granted... I'm so sorry for your pain.'