Ohio Mom Sentenced to 10 Years for DUI

By Marianne Madden

Published on October 13, 2006

Jennifer Weir, 30, killed James and Virginia Bishop on Aug. 7, 2004, when her SUV veered across the center line of a road and hit the motorcycle on which the couple was riding. Weir was returning from a private amusement park where her family had been picnicking. Four children, including Weir's daughter, were in the vehicle. Three suffered minor injuries.

At the site of the crash, a sheriff’s officer noted that Weir had slurred speech and smelled of alcohol. She failed sobriety tests and refused a breathalyzer test. She maintained that she had drunk four beers, but stopped drinking two hours before driving. She also maintained that her daughter had distracted her by kicking the driver’s seat and that she lost control of the car when trying to reach for the girl.

Weir was sentenced to 10 years in prison on two charges of aggravated vehicular homicide and one count of child endangerment in February 2005. A Hamilton County judge reimposed the sentence on Thursday after an appeals court overturned it in light of an Ohio Supreme Court ruling that eliminated the sentencing guidelines upon which the sentence was based. The Hamilton County judge found that the length of Weir's original sentence was justified.

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