A New Jersey woman was recently convicted for the 2007 DWI-related death of a South Brunswick college student. According to reports, 35-year-old Kimberly Green was sentenced in a Middlesex County courtroom to 12 years in prison for her part in the fatal drunken driving accident. Based on reports, the defendant received an eight-year sentence for the death of Kylie Pinheiro, plus another four years for the injuring of the victim’s cousin, Heather Pinheiro.
The court also sentenced Green to an additional four-year term for injuring another cousin of the victim, Melissa Pinheiro. That sentence is set to run concurrent with the other two. According to court records, Green will have to serve more than seven years before she can even hope to be eligible for parole.
As a New Jersey drunk driving defense attorney, I can say that adding a injury or fatal accident to a drunken driving arrest is very serious indeed. Drunk driving cases such as the one reported on here can land a driver in jail for many years, much less result in other penalties that can impact one’s future livelihood.
In this particular case, Green, who is a mother of two and who worked as a counselor at Catholic Charities in Perth Amboy, NJ, rejected a plea deal which would have put her in jail for eight years. All through the trial, the defendant apparently maintained her innocence stating on the witness stand that she was not drunk at the time of the crash.
According to court records, Green was reportedly speeding along a northbound stretch of Rte 1 just before 3am on December 28, 2007. Police reports showed that the woman ran a red light at the intersection of Black Horse Lane, broadsiding a small Honda with Pinheiro and her two cousins riding inside.
Police said that the defendant’s blood-alcohol content (BAC) following the accident was at least 0.159 percent, which is twice the legal limit in New Jersey. The 18-year-old Pinheiro was fatally injured in the crash and died at the scene. Based on court records, Green had reportedly refused an offer to stay at a friend’s house over night, instead choosing to drive that fateful morning.
Woman convicted in DWI death of South Brunswick college freshman gets 12 years, MyCentralJersey.com, November 9, 2010