BRIGHTON - An unlicensed motorist who killed a highway flagger during a street race and then ran from the scene was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison.

Adams County District Judge C. Vincent Phelps gave Javier Vigil, who turned 27 this week, six years for his conviction of criminally negligent homicide and tacked on another six years for his conviction of leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in death. A jury convicted Vigil Jan. 16.

Daniel Salmeron, 51, a contract flagger who was working for the Colorado Department of Transportation, died from the injuries he suffered the night of July 19, 2005, on Federal Boulevard in unincorporated Adams County.

Salmeron was one of five state road workers who were killed between 2004 and the end of 2006.

"The judge's decision to impose a prison sentence is very appropriate under the facts of this tragic case, and it sends a clear message that the justice system is serious about the issue of unsafe driving in Colorado work zones," District Attorney Don Quick said after Vigil's sentence.

Witnesses testified that shortly before Salmeron was hit by Vigil's 1993 Acura Integra, Vigil was racing with another motorist on southbound Federal Boulevard near West 58th Avenue. Vigil veered into a construction zone where Salmeron was standing.

During the trial a witness testified that Salmeron had tried to slow down the drivers as they approached the construction zone, which had blocked two lanes and left the center lane open. Transportation department crews were repaving Federal at the time.

Witnesses said that after hitting Salmeron, Vigil stopped but then fled, leaving pieces of his damaged Acura behind. Vigil later reported his car stolen.

Defense lawyer Michael Trani said Vigil began crying and confessed to a Colorado State Patrol trooper after learning that the flagger was killed.

gutierrezh@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5204