Nicole Hoffman
It wasn't just that 18-year-old Nicole Hoffman was drinking and driving with a blood-alcohol level almost twice the legal limit. Or that she was speeding in excess of 90 mph. Or that she was texting while behind the wheel.
It was that she was doing all three when she crashed her car at 3:40 a.m. Dec. 11, 2009, in an accident that took the life of a passenger, 20-year-old Shawn Zimmerman of Earleville, Md.
Shawn Zimmerman
For that, Superior Court Judge Jan R. Jurden on Friday sentenced Hoffman, now 19, to prison for nine years, more than four times the minimum mandatory sentence and three years more than prosecutors requested.
And in an unusual twist requested by prosecutor Sean Lugg, Jurden barred the Middletown teenager from accessing any social media websites, such as MySpace and Facebook, during her four years of probation because of the "glamorous" images of drinking she posted on her MySpace page.
The judge also ordered Hoffman, when she is released, to speak at every public high school in the state about the dangers of drinking and driving and texting while driving.
Hoffman did not speak in court, having her attorney, Eugene Maurer Jr., apologize on her behalf and express remorse. When Jurden handed down the lengthy sentence, many of Hoffman's family and friends began to sob.
Maurer said he and the family were not prepared for such a severe sentence and his client was "crushed."
Zimmerman's parents also did not speak in court, but afterward, his mother, Mary Kate Bossler, said she was just "numb." Zimmerman's stepfather, Harvey Bossler, said even if the judge had imposed a life sentence, it would not bring Shawn back.
According to court proceedings and family members, Zimmerman agreed to take a ride on a "party bus" from Newark to Baltimore after Hoffman offered him a free ticket for what apparently was a first date.
In addition to stopping at bars in Baltimore and smoking marijuana during the trip, Hoffman also brought along and consumed a bottle of Captain Morgan Rum, according to attorneys.
When the bus returned sometime around 3 a.m., Hoffman got behind the wheel of her 2008 Pontiac G6 and as she drove -- at speeds of up to 93 miles per hour along Del. 896 -- she was checking voicemail and exchanging angry text messages with a male acquaintance with whom she had argued during the trip.
Jurden noted that in the 21 minutes before the crash -- when police said Hoffman drifted into the median near Old Summit Bridge Road, then veered back to the right and off the road -- some 17 text messages, voicemails or phone calls were exchanged.
The car dug into the grass when it left the road, according to police, and overturned, throwing Zimmerman from the vehicle and inflicting fatal head injuries. Hoffman and a female passenger suffered less-serious injuries, and both were taken to the hospital.
"You didn't make a bad decision," Jurden told Hoffman. "You made a cascade of bad decisions that bring us here today."
Jurden agreed the texts being sent to Hoffman were troubling, but said there was an easy solution to that -- put down the phone
Hoffman had no criminal record before the accident, and Maurer said she was dealing with some emotional and psychological issues, including the divorce of her parents, followed by the death of her father.
But Lugg and Jurden pointed to Hoffman's troubling actions after the accident. Jurden said there is no evidence that Hoffman tried to aid Zimmerman and instead was apparently more concerned with trying to hide evidence of alcohol use.
Also, the weekend before she agreed to plead guilty to manslaughter in June, she was drinking in Dewey Beach and was arrested twice -- once for underage drinking and disorderly conduct and a second time for assault where alcohol was again involved.
And then there were the pictures featuring her drinking on MySpace. Jurden said the images not only "glamorized alcohol use" but were an insult to Zimmerman's family and friends given what had happened.
The judge said posting such images "speaks volumes about the lack of judgment that had such catastrophic consequences" on Dec. 11, 2009.
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