Fatal DWI Crash Leads to Sentence of 1-3 Years in State Prison
According to a recent lohud.com article, a 24-year-old former all-star basketball athlete has been sentenced to one to three years in a state prison for causing a drunken driving accident in New York that killed her friend, Lisa Marie Mornay. Meghan Wood, a 24-year-old former basketball player and leading scorer her senior year at Loyola College in Maryland, was sentenced on November 4, 2009.
The New York State Judge handling the case could have sentenced Wood to five years "shock" probation in which she would serve the first six months in jail but he wanted his sentence to be a deterrent to others who would drive drunk. At her sentencing, Supreme Court Justice Lester Adler chastised Wood saying, “You endangered every single person on the road that morning. I can’t forget that; I can’t put that out of my mind.”
According to the article, Wood would have faced up to fifteen years in prison if she had been convicted at trial. Instead, Wood began serving her sentence at the Westchester County jail in Valhalla on August 3, 2009 after pleading guilty to the full indictment against her, which included a felony charge of vehicular manslaughter and misdemeanor counts of driving while intoxicated. She is now scheduled to be transported to a state prison where she may be eligible for parole in nine months.
Being charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs is a serious matter whether you are arrested in New York, Maryland, or anywhere else in the U.S. If someone is injured or killed as result of a drunk driving incident, the penalties can be even more severe. Considering that more than 1.4 million drivers in the United States last year were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs, enforcement and targeting suspicious drivers has widely increased.
If you have been charged with drunk driving in Maryland, the skilled Bethesda DUI defense attorneys at Meng & Alpert LLC can help. We have many years of experience in helping people throughout Maryland fight their drunk driving charges, and our lead DUI defense attorney, Andrew Alpert, is considered one of the most well-respected and knowledgeable DUI lawyers in the state of Maryland. At Meng & Alpert, LLC, we understand the many challenges a DUI charge can create and are prepared to help you through the process. Please call our criminal defense law firm today at 866-444-6363 for a free consultation of your DUI case.
Source article: http://www.lohud.com/article/20091104/NEWS02/911040388/-1/SPORTS/Former-Carmel-girls-basketball-standout-gets-1-3-years-in-fatal-DWI-crash
