A judge sentenced a woman to six years in prison for a crash that killed a couple in Gaithersburg, Maryland, last year.
The reading of impact statements from those who knew and loved Pran and Pamela Sharma took more than an hour and included touching letters from their grandchildren.
“It is our hope that this is a reminder to everybody that one bad decision can lead to catastrophic consequences,” said Neil Sharma, the couple’s son.
Investigators testified Rebecca Vo was speeding and legally intoxicated when she crashed her BMW SUV into the Sharmas’ Toyota RAV4 on March 27, 2021, fatally injuring the couple and their little dog at Darnestown Road and Blackberry Drive.
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Vo told investigators she’d been drinking at a winery for between two and three hours.
She pleaded guilty in November.
At sentencing, the judge agreed with the prosecution’s request that Vo serve 20 years in prison with all but six years suspended followed by five years of probation.
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“Always as a component part is speed, and in this case, it was a tremendous amount of speed,” Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said. “If she, the driver of this car, had been driving at the posted speed limit, this accident never would have ever happened.
At her sentencing, Vo, of Nashville, said she deeply regrets her actions that day and takes full responsibility for them.
