Maryland DUI Driver Who Killed 3 In DUI Crash Sent Back To Prison
ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) — A Maryland man convicted in a 2011 drunken-driving crash that killed three of his friends was sentenced to seven more years in prison on Monday after investigators found he tried to drive under the influence numerous times and removed a device from his car that would monitor his sobriety.
Kevin Coffay, 28, was sentenced in Montgomery County Circuit Court to serve the time that was originally suspended on his 2012 vehicular manslaughter convictions, news outlets reported.
A judge determined he violated his probation, pointing to records that showed the device inside his car sensed alcohol in his blood more than 100 times, even though in some cases the levels were below the legal limit.
Coffay was accused of leaving a party drunk in May 2011, getting behind the wheel of a car and eventually crashing into a tree, killing his friends Spencer Datt, 18, Johnny Hoover, 20, and Haeley McGuire, 18, police and prosecutors have said.
A fourth passenger, a 19-year-old, was injured but survived.
Coffay ran through the woods to escape, and when police found him hours later, his blood alcohol content was still twice the legal limit, prosecutors said.
Coffay's original 20-year sentence was reduced to eight with five years' probation, but he served a total of four before being released. He received a driver's license again in 2018, and was ordered to drive with a device to monitor his blood alcohol level.
When he was pulled over in September, a police officer found he had a suspended license and he admitted he had the device removed from his car, according to court documents.
Coffay was sentenced to two years in prison in that case, in addition to the seven years from Monday's sentencing.
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