Laura Gallagher, 21, was sentenced to a three-year prison term for her role in the fatal hit-and-run that killed 54-year-old Carl Wilkins, of Trenton.
EWING — A former Rider University student was sentenced today to a three-year prison term for her role in a fatal 2011 hit-and-run, in which she struck a Trenton man and fled the scene, and then another driver hit the same man.
Laura Gallagher, 21, pleaded guilty last year to one count of leaving the scene of the crash that killed 54-year-old Carl Wilkins. The courtroom debate over how heavy her sentence should be included a discussion of how much alcohol she had imbibed that night, Oct. 28, as she drove home from a party.
Ultimately, Judge Thomas Brown ruled she had suffered too much already for the five year sentence the prosecution had sought. “She has done an about-face from the time of this unfortunate incident to today,” Brown said. “She has exhibited substantial hardship and the court finds that extended imprisonment would entail excessive hardships.”
Gallagher, of Mount Olive, would have to serve at least a year of her sentence before she is eligible for parole.
The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office dropped a death by auto charge in exchange for the guilty plea.
“I spent so many nights replaying the accident in my head, wishing I acted differently,” Gallagher said through tears today, sobbing and requiring a moment to compose herself before addressing the Wilkins family.
“There’s nothing I can do that will change what happened. I just wish I would have acted differently. ... This is just a truly terrible accident and I’m taking full responsibility for my actions. I just hope you can forgive me.”
Gallagher said she struck Wilkins on Parkside Avenue in Ewing while she was coming home from a party around 10:30 that night in October 2011. Wilkins, a Trenton resident, was walking from a bus stop to his brother’s apartment to have dinner. Gallagher didn’t stop after realizing she hit him, and instead panicked and returned to her Trenton home, she said today.
Wilkins was struck moments later by Ewing resident Marie Jean, who pleaded guilty to a disorderly persons offense after she lied to police and didn’t mention her own role in the accident. It was never officially determined which of the two vehicles delivered the fatal blow. Attorneys for both prosecution and defense placed the blame on different drivers in court today.
Brown called Gallagher’s sentencing “the most difficult sentencing since I’ve been on the bench.”
Brown said Gallagher’s actions since the crash — including going into and out of a deep depression and coaching a youth softball team — weighed more on him than the “aggravating factors” of the crash, including the fact that Gallagher had been drinking alcohol that night. Gallagher’s attorney said she only had one drink and wasn’t intoxicated, but the prosecutor argued she was over the legal limit.
Assistant Prosecutor Skylar Weissman argued for Brown to impose the five-year prison term called for in the plea deal, reciting witness testimony from a passenger in Gallagher’s car whom she asked to “take (the hit-and-run) to the grave.”
“Her actions after this incident cry out what kind of person she was,” Weissman said.
Wilkins’s brother and sister both made statements to Brown before the sentencing, asking the judge to note the severe consequences of Gallagher’s actions, regardless if they were unintentional.
“When you hit someone and keep going, that’s murder,” said Eddie Wilkins. “You might as well have a gun because it’s the same result.”
“I hope (Gallagher) thinks about what she’s done and uses her other time to help anyone else that’s caught in this situation or to help someone that was hurt,” said Elven Murphy, Wilkins’s sister.
Contact Mike Davis at (609) 989-5708 or mdavis@njtimes.com.
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