A Franklin Township woman was sentenced to State prison yesterday in connection with a 2011 motor vehicle collision that claimed the life of an 81-year-old woman, and injured two others, Atlantic County Prosecutor Jim McClain announced.
Yesterday, Amanda Dean, 28, of the 500 block of Old Harding Highway, Franklin Township, Gloucester County, was sentenced in Atlantic County Superior Court to 5 years in prison for vehicular homicide.
On June 18, 2011, Dean was driving north on Tuckahoe Road in Buena Vista Township with two passengers in the car: Charles Palmieri, 25, of Williamstown in the front passenger seat, and a 2-year-old boy, seated in a child car seat in the rear of the vehicle.
The State alleges that, while operating the car at a high rate of speed, Dean entered the southbound lane and collided head-on with an oncoming car.
New Jersey State Police and emergency medical personnel responded to the scene. Dean, Palmieri, the 2-year-old child, and the driver and sole occupant of the oncoming car, Caecilie Domaniewski, 81, of Estell Manor, were all seriously injured in the crash, and airlifted to local hospitals.
On June 22, 2011, the State Police issued Dean multiple traffic summonses, including Driving While Intoxicated, Reckless Driving, Failure to Maintain the Proper Lane, and having CDS (Controlled Dangerous Substance) in a Motor Vehicle.
Domaniewski had remained hospitalized for nearly two months when, succumbing to multiple traumatic injuries, she was pronounced dead on August 4, 2011.
On May 9, 2013, an Atlantic County Grand Jury indicted Dean on one count of second- degree vehicular homicide, two counts of third-degree assault by auto, and one count of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child.
On November 14, 2014, before Atlantic County Superior Court Judge Bernard E. DeLury, Jr., Amanda Dean pled guilty to vehicular homicide.
Yesterday, Judge DeLury sentenced Amanda Dean to 5 years of incarceration in New Jersey State Prison. Pursuant to the No Early Release Act (NERA), Dean will serve 4 years and 3 months before becoming eligible for parole.