Amy Locane, know for her role on the original “Melrose Place” television show, has reportedly been indicted on charges that she was drunk when the car she allegedly was driving crashed into another vehicle, killing one person and severely injuring a second. According to news articles, the accident took place in Princeton, New Jersey on June 27 last year.
Injuring, not to mention killing, someone as a result of a traffic accident can lead to serious consequences. Couple that with charges of drinking and driving and one can have a considerable legal problem on his or her hands. As a New Jersey DWI defense attorney, I hear about many drunken driving-related fatalities all across the Garden State, including Bergen, Ocean, Passaic and Essex County.
In this particular instance, 39-year-old Amy Locane-Bovenizer (the Trenton-born actress’s married name) is charged with the DWI-related traffic death of 60-year-old Helene Seeman and the injury of the woman’s husband, who was in critical condition at the time of news articles.
Based on information from the county prosecutor’s office, Locane-Bovenizer rear-ended a car in Princeton, NJ, and allegedly drove away from the scene when the driver of the other vehicle attempted to contact police. Subsequently, Locane-Bovenizer’s Chevrolet Tahoe hit the passenger side of a Mercury Milan driven by Fred Seeman as he was turning left into a driveway around 9pm. The man’s wife, who was seated in the passenger seat at the time of the crash, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Locane-Bovenizer reportedly told police she had consumed some wine the night of the accident in Montgomery, NJ. New reports indicate that Locane-Bovenizer had been free on $50,000 bail pending a January court appearance. Originally charged with vehicular homicide, the actress could be looking at a maximum of 30 years in prison if convicted on the grand jury’s stepped-up charge of first-degree aggravated manslaughter. An original count of third-degree assault with an automobile was also included in the indictment.
Amy Locane-Bovenizer of ‘Melrose Place’ indicted for aggravated manslaughter in alleged DUI case, LATimes.com, December 17, 2010