Wrong-way driver who had 21 drinks sentenced to 38 years in prison (updated 8/3/2013 7:15 p.m.)
Last edited Sat Aug 3, 2013, 08:14 PM - Edit history (1)
[font color=green]This is an update to an earlier thread:
Woman who consumed 21 drinks suddenly switches to guilty plea in drunk driving trial
http://www.democraticunderground.com/107810858[/font]
Before being sentenced to 38 years in prison Friday, Nicole Baukus acknowledged from the stand that she had more reason than most to be painfully aware and well versed in the dangers of drunken driving.
Baukus' ankle is tattoed with the name of her first love, Stephen Robert Cage, who died six years ago at age 19 at the hands of a drunken driver in a college dorm parking lot. The last man she dated before pleading guilty in the case was a Houston police officer who regularly investigates such wrecks.
But Baukus, 24, entered last-minute guilty pleas on Thursday to one intoxicated assault and two intoxicated manslaughter charges, and she won't be eligible for parole for 34 years.
"I never wanted to put anybody through what I went through. But I have, and I'm sorry," a sobbing Baukus told jurors in Montgomery County's 435th district court before her sentencing. She initially balked at taking the stand on her own behalf, later saying "I deserve to be in jail."
More at http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Wrong-way-driver-sentenced-to-38-years-in-prison-4704366.php?cmpid=hpbn .
[font color=navy]UPDATE:
Warrant issued for bar patron in fatal DWI
Montgomery County officials issued an arrest warrant for a man who allegedly gave drinks to an already intoxicated 24-year-old Nicole Baukus before she drove away from a bar and caused a fatal accident.
Baukus, who pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of intoxication manslaughter and one count of intoxication assault in the July 29, 2012, accident, was sentenced Friday to 38 years in prison.
After a night of drinking at a bar then called On the Rox, Baukus drove her pickup the wrong way on Interstate 45, colliding head-on around 2:50 a.m. with a Chevrolet Aveo near FM 242. The crash killed Nicole Adams, 19, and Travis Saunders, 18, and injured David Porras, now 23.
As an outgrowth of the trial, a warrant was issued Friday for Kambiz Michael Duran, 29, who is in the Harris County Jail after pleading guilty last month to possession of marijuana. On July 10, he was sentenced to 180 days in a state jail.
More at http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Warrant-issued-for-bar-patron-in-fatal-DWI-4705159.php?cmpid=hpbn .
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