'Melrose' actress sentenced to three years for deadly NJ crash

[DemonGeminiX]

http://i.imgur.com/k3YyjBg.jpg

SOMERVILLE, N.J. (AP) -- A former "Melrose Place" actress who was driving drunk when her SUV plowed into a car and killed a New Jersey woman has been sentenced to three years in prison.


The victim's husband yelled, "What a travesty!" at the judge after Thursday's sentencing, and he and his son stormed out of the courtroom.

Amy Locane-Bovenizer faced up to 10 years in prison after a jury in November convicted her of vehicular homicide in the 2010 death of 60-year-old Helene Seeman in Montgomery Township.

The judge lowered the maximum sentence citing the hardship on Locane-Bovenizer's two children. One has a medical and mental disability.

The actress apologized to Seeman's family.

Locane-Bovenizer's blood-alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit when the crash occurred as Seeman's husband turned into their driveway.

[RBP]

:dunno: Sounds about right.

[DemonGeminiX]

:-k

I dunno, man.

[RBP]

:-k

I dunno, man.

Prosecuting drunk drivers for vehicular homicide is a pretty new thing. You think it should be longer than 3 years?

[minz]

I think it should be longer than three years.

[Hal-9000]

Prosecuting drunk drivers for vehicular homicide is a pretty new thing. You think it should be longer than 3 years?

Absolutely....they took a life while breaking the law.

[Muddy]

Prosecuting drunk drivers for vehicular homicide is a pretty new thing. You think it should be longer than 3 years?

Heck yes man.. What if it was your mother or someone that you personally cared about??

[RBP]

Yeah, idk. A LOT of people die in car accidents and usually because someone did something stupid. They might be texting or otherwise not paying attention, speeding, etc etc etc, and yes they may have been drinking. But there is no way to know if the alcohol had anything to do with the crash that killed this woman. I don't assume it did, but I recognize that most people do.

Having said that, it's still an involuntary, accidental death. I put it in a different category that a willful death. The laws, however, are evolving toward the opinion you all are expressing. Harsher penalties for this one category only. If negligence is negligence than we'll have to take a harsher view of all accidental deaths not just ones that involve alcohol.

Maybe even with all that 3 years seems short to you, I get that too.

[RBP]

Yeah, idk. A LOT of people die in car accidents and usually because someone did something stupid. They might be texting or otherwise not paying attention, speeding, etc etc etc, and yes they may have been drinking. But there is no way to know if the alcohol had anything to do with the crash that killed this woman. I don't assume it did, but I recognize that most people do.

Having said that, it's still an involuntary, accidental death. I put it in a different category that a willful death. The laws, however, are evolving toward the opinion you all are expressing. Harsher penalties for this one category only. If negligence is negligence than we'll have to take a harsher view of all accidental deaths not just ones that involve alcohol.

Maybe even with all that 3 years seems short to you, I get that too.

[Hal-9000]

You may remember that my 15 yr old nephew was killed by a vehicle on a sunny afternoon walking home from school, no inclement conditions or vehicular malfunctions

To this day, the driver has never been charged. Not even a traffic ticket for undo care...

In one of he biggest flukes in the universe, three years later my sister was following a truck and the driver was driving erratically. He was all over the road, both sides. She called the RCMP and gave the plate number, indicated that the driver may have been having problems. The RCMP called her back that night and regretfully informed her that it was the same guy who killed her son...

This next is heresay but in their community, people have stated that the guy in question always drives badly and is typically impaired on booze, coke or both. He hit something with his wife in the vehicle and she was injured because of it, previous to him hitting my nephew.

Blood was taken from the driver after my nephew got hit, the tox screen came up negative. But you tell me....how does someone hit a man sized child on the shoulder of a road, plenty of visibility both ways, hit him hard enough to launch him 15 meters from the point of impact, and not be speeding? Or driving dangerously? Or being so distracted that his vehicle wanders into a pedestrian at speed?

This isn't directed at you RBP, but I still struggle with the situation. How can someone kill another human and not be responsible for the action? It's destroyed my sister and her relationship with her husband. She became so overprotective of her other son, that they had to go to therapy together. And this guy is still free to go to work, drive anywhere he pleases because the law says they couldn't prove fault.

I did some investigating out there (I visit regularly and know the area/people) and most reports are that the guy is a waste-oid and texts while driving as well as drives drunk constantly.

I found out where he works and I don't mind saying that it took a lot for me not to go visit him... (primarily my sister begged me not to)


I guess the point is - He killed someone and deserves to be punished.

[RBP]

You've told parts of that story before and I know it's a difficult situation for you. I don't disagree that when people are reckless there needs to be consequences. No doubt about it. Your example in some ways illustrates exactly what I was trying to say though.

If we are going to take a very harsh view of all traffic deaths then we need to be consistent about it and not just get on our high horse because we don't like the particular issue involved. In this case alcohol. We tend to make really sharp judgements on those cases with no particular evidence whether alcohol played a role in the crash - it's assumed. But we don't make those assumptions about other causes?

I don't know how long someone should go away for causing a vehicular death. I do think the circumstances vary and the fault varies and so should the punishments.

[Muddy]

Do not drink and drive...period.. It can impair your judgement and you can kill someone innocent.. Easily..

[RBP]

Do not drink and drive...period.. It can impair your judgement and you can kill someone innocent.. Easily..

No argument there. Texting and driving is actually worse, but we don't scream for long prison terms on those. Maybe we should, idk.

[DemonGeminiX]

I think she should be put to death.

I say we tie her up and let a bunch of midgets dressed up as clowns gang rape her over and over again until her body just gives out and she dies.

Hey, it's only fair.

[minz]

Here's how I see it... If you drink that much alcohol (3x the legal limit) then get behind the wheel of your car that vehicle then becomes one big lethal weapon, if you kill someone with a gun or knife would you be able to get away with a shorter sentence just because you had been drinking at the time? If you choose to take a risk with someone else's life, and let’s face it, in drink driving cases it's rarely the drunk driver that comes off worst, then you deserve everything you get including prosecuting to the full extent of the law. The judge said he was taking into account her children when handing out just three years, will the victims Son get him Mother back after three years?

So the bottom line for me is if you take your car out onto the road when you've been drinking, knowing full well what the consequences could be it no longer constitutes an 'accident'

[Acid Trip]

I think it should be longer than three years.

:agreed: