Woman who consumed 21 drinks suddenly switches to guilty plea in drunk driving trial

[TexasTowelie]

A Spring woman who authorities said consumed 21 drinks before driving in a fatal accident has pled guilty to intoxication manslaughter.

Nicole Baukus, 24, entered the guilty plea Thursday morning before the jury in Montgomery County's 435th State District Court, a court official said.

The trial is continuing with the sentencing phase.

On June 29, 2012, a pickup driven by Baukus was traveling the wrong way on Interstate 45 near Texas 242 when it smashed into a Chevrolet Aveo. The driver of the second vehicle, Nicole Adams, a 19-year-old from Conroe, was killed, as was her backseat passenger, Travis Ryan Saunders, 18, of Houston.

More at http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=9192367&rss=rss-ktrk-article-9192367 .

[font color=green]Baukus' BAC was 0.30. The maximum sentence is 50 years.[/font]

[mbperrin]

1. Not long enough in prison for killing two people in an entirely avoidable behavior.

I'd be dead of alcohol poisoning at that point.

Drunks never do die in these horrible wrecks they cause.

[Jenoch]

2. Another news site

said her BAC was 'more than 3 times the legal limit to drive', that means she was at .25 or a little higher. It also said she could be sentenced to up to 60 years.

I used to know a man that got a DWI arrest at .52. The only reason he did not die of alcohol poisoning is because he was an experienced alcoholic.

[snappyturtle]

3. I think it will be interesting to learn where and how she got so-o

drunk and no one stopped her from driving. There were some
accomplices. imho

[TexasTowelie]

4. The bar that served her the drinks is named in the link.

[snappyturtle]

5. I just read....a Montgomery County Bar???? I'm sure there's

more than one in Montgomery County. Thanks though.

[TexasTowelie]

6. Oops!

I read two or three articles on the story.

Here is an excerpt from the Houston Chronicle:

On Tuesday, Oscar Williams, an agent with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, testified that Baukus had consumed 21 alcoholic drinks prior to driving away from the bar before the accident, said Maj. Randy Field, the TABC's regional director in the Houston area.

She had the 21 drinks over a four-hour period, based upon surveillance video and her bar tab, Field said.

The bar, then known as On the Rox, was cited for over-serving a customer and had its license suspended from Feb. 27 to March 28, Field said. The bar is now called Flying Pug Sports Pub, he said.

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Woman-who-had-21-drinks-before-fatal-accident-4700895.php?cmpid=hpfc

[snappyturtle]

7. Thanks so much! nt