Camp Verde AZ (October 15, 2020) – On Tuesday, October 13, 2020, the Honorable Michael Bluff of the Yavapai County Superior Court sentenced Jesse Michael Etienne, 21, of Camp Verde, Arizona, to the Arizona State Prison for 16 years. Etienne was found guilty of Second Degree Murder by a Yavapai County Jury on January 31, 2020 and pled “no contest” to the charges of Possession of Marijuana and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, both class six felonies, prior to the trial commencing.
The case occurred on July 10, 2018 at approximately 8:30 p.m. on State Route 260, Milepost 208.7 and Western Road in Cottonwood, Arizona. At that time, a Cottonwood police officer observed a vehicle traveling at 107 miles per hour in a posted 55 miles per hour zone. The driver of the vehicle, later identified as Jesse Etienne, entered a posted 45 mile per hour zone traveling at over 100 miles per hour, running a red light at the intersection of Western Road, striking a pedestrian in the crosswalk causing fatal injuries. The defendant then lost control of his vehicle, rolled several times, and came to rest approximately a quarter mile from the intersection where he struck the pedestrian. The victim’s body was located near Jesse Etienne’s vehicle.
