Facebook Photo Nets Drunk Driver Longer Jail Term

A 17-year-old woman in upstate New York who killed her boyfriend/passenger in a horrific drunk driving crash apparently had her jail sentence increased because of a Facebook posting, according to the Buffalo News. The woman pled guilty to criminally negligent homicide and misdemeanor driving while intoxicated.

The Buffalo News has learned that Sullivan went to Florida a month after the crash and posted a photo on her Facebook Web page captioned, “Drunk in Florida.”

“I’m troubled by your conduct since the crash,” County Judge Matthew J. Murphy III told [the woman], “and that’s the reason for the jail sentence.”

Treating her as an adult rather than a youthful offender, the judge imposed a sentence of six months in county jail and five years probation. The terms of the probation prohibit her from drinking for five years, and she will be under electronic monitoring for one year after getting out of jail. The court also revoked the woman’s driver’s license. At the time of the accident after 2 a.m. on May 30 in which she crashed her car into a brick pillar in front of a local golf course, she apparently registered a 0.13 BAC (0.08 is the legal limit in New York and most states).

Even with the judge’s admonition, the sentence seems light for a fatal collision. The judge could have sentenced the offender to up to four years in state prison.

The criminal court disposition of the case doesn’t resolve all the outstanding legal issues. The family of the victim can sue the offender in civil court for money damages on grounds of what the law calls wrongful death. The family has already retained a lawyer for this purpose.