• 03
  • September
    2010

A Texas court recently ruled that a 26-year-old woman, Mariza M., is guilty of intoxication manslaughter and intoxication assault. The now-convicted woman is in state custody and awaiting her sentencing hearing.

Mariza M. was charged with the crimes after her drunk driving led her to drive the wrong way on a Texas highway and crash into an oncoming car. One of the car accident victims died due to the crash, and her friend suffered injuries. Both female victims were mere teenagers.

The defendant told the court that on May 10, 2009, she had attended a wedding, and she was on her way home from the reception when the car accident occurred at around 12:30 in the morning. Because of the accident, however, Mariza M. cannot remember what exactly happened due to reported amnesia.

Even though she might not remember what happened, the families of the victims involved cannot forget the crash, especially the family of the deceased victim, who was only 16. Hers was not the only death caused by wrong-way drivers in Texas last year. According to sources, at least four fatal traffic accidents took place in 2009 because drivers went the wrong direction on a road.

In order to defend his client and address liability in the drunk driving case, Mariza M.'s attorney argued that the teen driver who died in the crash was only 16 and, therefore, driving with a provisional license. That means that she should not have been driving after midnight without adult supervision.

In support of the prosecution's argument, Mariza M.'s blood alcohol content at the time of the crash was 0.13. Also, the speedometer on her car read 95 mph after the crash, a point that the defense attempted to debunk by having an expert admit that what the speedometer read after the crash might not be accurate in determining how fast the suspect was driving at the time of the accident.

We will post an update once the sentencing hearing takes place.

Resource

The Dallas Morning News: Woman found guilty in wrong-way crash on tollway that killed teen (9/2/2010)