Warrington, PA teen sentenced after fatal Bucks County car accident
Feb 24th, 2010 | By Michael L. Saile, Jr., Esq. | Category: BlogsBack in October 2009 we wrote about the death of Central Bucks High School junior, Alexandra Smolin. She was a victim of a Pennsylvania car accident. The car was driven by then Central Bucks student Jessica Atkins. Atkins was driving at excessive speed on Street Road in Warrington, PA, lost control of the car, and hit a tree. Ms. Smolin, back seat passenger, was fatally injured. The driver has recently been sentenced.
Ms. Atkins, who had admitted to speeding (driving 69 mph in a 40 mph zone) when she lost control of her car, plead guilty to vehicular homicide and involuntary manslaughter late last year. She was sentenced this month in Bucks County Juvenile Court to no less than six months in a locked juvenile facility in Monroe County, PA. The sentencing judge ruled that Atkins’ stay at the juvenile facility is indefinite.
Ms. Atkins must spend her upcoming spring break at the locked facility, after which she will spend the remaining weeks of the school year on house arrest, with mandated participation in juvenile programs on the weekends. Atkins begins her long-term stay at the juvenile facility as soon as she finishes classes and meets all graduation requirements. Ms. Atkins, now a resident of Bensalem, PA and a senior at Bensalem High School, is prohibited from attending her high school graduation ceremony in June. Her sentence also includes 200 hours of community service, which will have her spending some time talking to other teenagers and young adults about the dangers and consequences of reckless driving.
Additionally, Ms. Atkins has been ordered to attend regular therapy sessions, undergo drug and alcohol tests, write Alex Smolin’s parents a letter of apology, and pay a restitution fee of $14,700 to cover the cost of Ms. Smolin’s funeral. And, yes, Ms. Atkins’ driver’s license has been revoked.
The accident investigation concluded that there was cell phone use in the car around the time of the accident, but because the investigating officers were unable to determine the exact moment of impact, Ms. Atkins was not charged with offenses associated with cell phone use or distracted driving.
The Bucks County car accident investigation revealed the presence of a marijuana pipe among Ms. Atkins’ belongings, but blood tests performed on the driver showed no trace of the drug in her system at the time of the Warrington, PA car accident.
We provide this follow-up to our original article and the outcome in this case in an effort to alert both teens and their parents about the dangers of reckless and/or careless driving. In an instant, a foolish decision could result in a fatal accident or serious, life altering injuries in the case of a car accident or other event causing serious personal injury. Not only has one family lost a child, but another individual has to live with the consequences of her poor judgment for the rest of her life, as well as the loss of a dear friend. Most assuredly, Ms. Atkins’ senior year of high school and remaining teenage years are not turning out to be what she might have envisioned.
I WANTED TO WRITE ON THIS, …… FIRSRT OFF, DID SHE HAVE AN ATTONEY, … BECAUSE, … VEHICLAL HOMICIDE AND INVOLUNATARY MANSLUAGTHER IS DOUBBLE JEPARDY, NO?
ITS 2 COVICTIONS FOR ONE ACT
FIRST OFF, … ANY JUDGHER, PROSECTUTYOR, AND DEFENSE ATTORNEY, THAT LET THIS SLIDE THROUGH, .. ARE ALL WRONG, AND EVIL, ….
IT IS ONE OR THE OTHER,
NOT BOTH,
RIGHT AWAY I AM PISSED OFF,…
THE OVER SENTENCE IS EXTREMELY HARSH
YOU GOT TO UNDWERSTAND,…. THAT LAW ENFORECEMENT GES AWAY WIT NOT ONLY DU AR WILL,… BUT THEY BUY, USE, AND SELL NARCOTICS,.. POT, COCAINE, LSD,… TO MAKE MONEY AND USE,…. AT WEILL, AT RANDOM, IN HS AND COLLEGE,…
AND MOST NEVER GET CAUGHT,
THE SENTENCE IN THIS CASE IS HIGH
PUT IT ANOTHER WAY,..
IF CURRENT LAW ENFORCEMENT DOES NOT BELIEVE THE PRIOR FELONIES OF ITS OPWEN PERSONAL MEAN ANYTHING,….. HOW CAN THEY IN ALL GGOD CONSCOIUS ARREST PEOPLE FOR DRUG FELONIES???
THIS IS NOT THAT OFF BASE, BECAUISAE OF THE SENTENCE,
IT IS A PURE MINDSET, …. DOES A FELONY OCCUR WHEN A PERSON COKMITS IT , OR WHEN HE IS CAUGHT?
I HAPPEN TO KNOW A INVESTIGATOR/DETECTIVE IN SEX CRIMES, … IN THE MONMOTH COUNTY PROSECUTORS OFFICE HERE IN NJ, … THAT I WENT TO HS AND COLLEGE WITH, …. THAT LIVED DOWN THE STREET FROM ME SINCE 1966, WHEN WE WRERE BORN ,……. THAT MANAGED TO BUT, USE, AND SELL, POT, COCAIBNE, AND LSD, IN HS, AND COLLEGE.
THE GREATEST PART OPF THE FELONIES OCCURED IN SOPHMORE AND JUNIOR YEAR OF COLLEGE.,
THE SELLING OF POT, COCAINE, AND LAD, ON A STATE COLLEGE CAMPUS,
THE GUY COMMITTED PROBABLY OVER 1000 INDIVISDUAL FELONIES, .. INNMY OIPINION, DURING THIS TIME,….
HOWEVER, HE WAS A CRIMINAL JUSTICE MAJOR, … HIS DAD WAS POLITICALLY CONNECTEDC, MAYOPR ,.. STATE CONNECTED TO KEAN, APPOINTED AT ONE POINT TO THE DEP AS A HEAD, ….. YUOU KINOW
WELL, WHEN MY FRIENDS CONNECTION GOT BUSTED, …. INSTREAD OF RATTING ON MY FRIEND, DOWNWARD, HE GOD MY FREID TO HAVE HIS DAD HELP HIM, TO GET OUT OF IT, … AND ANOTHER GUY WENT AWAY FOR 7 YEARS, …
THE FACT REMAINS, WHAT IS A FELONY?
THE FRIEND I HAD WENT ON TO THE COPUNTY LEVEL POLICE ACADEWMEY, AND HAS BEENM A COP ON A CPOUNTY LEVEL 20 YEARS
DOES IT MEAN THE FELONIES NEVER OCCURED?
THIS IS MY DELEMA IN LFE,
CAUSE I SEE PEOPLE GOING TO JAIL, PRISONB, ACRODSS THE NATION, FOR DRUG OFFENSES,..
AND THE GOVERNMEN T DOESNT GIVE A CRAP THAT COPS , LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS, COMMITED 1000 TIMES THE SAME OFFENSES.
I . MY SELF, AND IT IS JUST ME, ….. BUT I CAN NOT GET OVER IT
That was my best friend that died! I miss her so much.There isn’t a day i don’t think about her. She always kept me looking forward and shes gone. Did you know she was planning to come home to florida for my birthday and we were gonna go see hollywood undead. My birthdays october 12, hows that for a birthday present?
it is very sad and unfourtnate but when it happens people always forget she was not forced in the car she was doing the same thing her friends were doing….it would be different if someone said she was begging her to slow down… who is the judge to force someone to write a letter? if i was the parent of the girl i would have that removed,the girl who was driving should write that on her terms not be forced i would not want a letter that was court ordered..