Conn. man pleads guilty to 7th OUI following crash that killed a 24-year-old woman.
PITTSFIELD— A 36-year-old Sandy Hook, Conn. man with six drunk driving convictions behind him, was sentenced to serve 15 to 18 years in state prison after he was found guilty of killing a Sheffield woman in a 2012 drunken driving crash.
Frederick J. Weller was sentenced by Judge John A.Agostini in Berkshire Superior Court Thursday.
According to the Berkshire Eagle, Weller entered a plea of guilty to a 7th drunk driving charge and that he was drunk the night of Feb. 28, 2012, when he caused a multi-car crash on Route 7 in Sheffield. Killed in that crash was 24-year-old Moira Banks-Dobson of Sheffand, and a Great Barrington man was seriously injured.
According to prosecutors, Weller's pickup truck repeatedly crossed over the center line on Route 7 until it crashed head-on into a car driven by Russell Brown. The pickup truck careened off of Brown's Dodge Neon and landed on top of Bank-Donson's car. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
After the crash, Weller tried to run away, but was stopped by a passerby. Weller threatened to kill the man for trying to keep him at the scene.
Brown remained in a coma for weeks and had to relearn how to walk after the crash.
According to Weller's defense attorney, the 18 months he has been jailed awaiting trial has been the longest period of time he has been sober since he started drinking at age 13.