A worker at a La Jolla nursing facility who drove drunk and killed a passenger in her vehicle was sentenced March 3 to one year in jail under conditions of five years probation that bars her from drinking alcohol for five years. Iveth Zea, 27, of San Diego, pleaded guilty to committing gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, stemming from the Oct. 25, 2009 crash that claimed the life of Nicholas Zagunis, 22, of La Mesa. She also pleaded guilty to drunk driving with great bodily injury to her boyfriend, Clayton Perham, who suffered a skull fracture. Zea has worked at an unspecified nursing facility in La Jolla since 2004 and had planned to become a registered nurse, according to her probation report. She suffered a concussion in the 2 a.m. crash on Miramar Road when she was driving her Chevy Avalanche too fast and struck an electrical transformer. Her car then struck a building and several trees, and Zagunis, who wasn’t wearing a seat belt, was ejected and died at the scene. “I considered Nick my friend. I wish it was me and not him,” Zea said. “I accept the consequences, but I am having a problem forgiving myself.” “I will never in my life touch alcohol, never, never (again),” said Zea, who added that she attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings while in jail. San Diego Superior Court Judge Theodore Weathers agreed to place Zea on probation but only after she waived her 130-day jail credits so she would actually serve a full year in jail. Weathers ruled that Zea not be subject to early release by the sheriff’s department. She was fined $2,189 and ordered to pay probation supervision costs of $1,127, court records say. Weathers ordered her to complete a DUI victim impact panel and enroll in a 9-month firstconviction program. She lost her driver’s license and is banned from bars. Perham told the judge, “I don’t think a jail is where she belongs.” Her attorney, Joseph Judge, said Zea was “extremely remorseful and extremely embarrassed.” Deputy District Attorney Steven Marquardt asked for a prison term of four years and three months. “She knew she had an alcohol problem. Mr. Zagunis is not going to come back,” said Marquardt, adding that her alcohol level was .20, which is more than twice the legal limit for drunk driving.