Uriel Perez Palacios was sentenced Friday morning to 30 years in prison on federal drug trafficking charges stemming from a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency crackdown on the Gulf Cartel.

Palacios, 23, was sentenced before U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater. He could have been sentenced to life in prison, and he still faces murder charges in Dallas County in the deaths of Erika Clouet, 24, and German Clouet, 23, on Sept. 1, 2008.

Palacios, known as “Youngster,” is accused of causing the crash that killed the Clouets, who had been married two months. Police say Palacios was driving drunk and ran a red light while fleeing a sheriff's deputy.

Palacios had four prior drunken-driving arrests.

In connection with the same crash, he was charged with six counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for the others injured in the crash, with involved three vehicles. Each of those assault counts is a second-degree felony carrying a maximum 20-year prison sentence.

Palacios' Dallas County trial in connection with the fatal crash was set for June, but was postponed until after his federal drug sentencing, his lawyer said.

Federal prosecutors accuse Palacios of helping distribute drugs for Hector Omero Rodriguez, a 25-year-old Allen man who was sentenced to 20 years in prison last month. Rodriguez was believed to have led a cell smuggling cocaine into North Texas for the Gulf Cartel. Authorities believe the Mexican cartel controls the Dallas cocaine market.

According to court documents, federal agents intercepted a phone call in July in which Rodriguez arranged for Palacios to deliver 50 kilograms of cocaine to a co-defendant at the Elegante Hotel and Suites on Northwest Highway near Interstate 35.

The fatal car crash occurred around 2 a.m., after a Dallas county sheriff's deputy pulled Palacios over for weaving through traffic on Central Expressway.

That night, he was driving a Chevy Tahoe. It did not have a Breathalyzer hooked up to the ignition. A judge had ordered such a device placed on Palacios' pickup in January 2008 because of his previous DWIs, but he repeatedly flunked the breath tests, leaving him unable to start the truck, authorities said.

As the deputy approached the Tahoe, Palacios drove away, with his lights off.

At Central Expressway and Mockingbird Lane, police said, Palacios ran a red light and hit the two vehicles.

The Clouets, who were driving home after a date at the movies, died at the scene.