A North Carolina man accused of drunk driving in a fatal crash in 2010 has made a plea in his case. The alleged drunk driving accident occurred when his vehicle crossed over the center line and collided with another vehicle being driving by a 23-year-old woman. The woman passed away at the crash scene, and the driver faced several criminal charges.
Exact details surrounding the plea deal have not been divulged, but the man made a guilty plea to a single misdemeanor charge of causing a death by a motor vehicle. Initially, he faced a felony charge of causing a death by a vehicle, drunk driving and an additional traffic violation. With the plea deal, all of those charges have been dismissed.
He has been given credit for the time he already served and sentenced to a jail term of 75 days. He is currently awaiting a trial on a separate weapons charge, but it is unknown if that is related to the same case. If the man had been convicted of drunk driving charges or any of the additional criminal charges against him, it is likely that his jail sentence would have been much longer.
Although everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty, sometimes the best option for a North Carolina resident accused of a drunk driving crime is to accept the terms of a plea deal. With this plea deal, the man’s ordeal ended with a misdemeanor charge and a relatively short jail term. This is something that could be seen as a positive ending to a case which could have ended much differently if he had gone to trial.
Source: StarNewsOnline.com, “Man pleads to lesser charge in 2010 fatal wreck,” F. T. Norton, Feb. 18, 2013
