Mother Gets Life Sentence For Drunk Driving Death of Her Toddler

This is from the Columbus Dispatch:

Mother gets 3 years in drunken-driving death of her toddler
By John Futty

"A mother whose drunken-driving crash killed her 2-year-old daughter was sentenced today to three years in prison.  'I blame myself every day,' Jessica C. McKinley said in Franklin County Common Pleas Court before sentencing. She pleaded guilty last month to one count of aggravated vehicular homicide and one count of driving while intoxicated. McKinley, 23, Dartmouth Ave., had a blood-alcohol level of 0.224 percent, nearly three times the level at which Ohio considers someone impaired, at the time of the crash.

She was driving at least 64 mph in a 35-mph zone when her car struck a traffic barrier on Nelson Road on Jan. 6, 2009. Her daughter, Lanyah McKinley, was in the back seat unrestrained and in an unsecured booster seat. The girl died at Nationwide Children's Hospital.

Judge Tim Horton sentenced McKinley to three years for the vehicular homicide and six months for drunken driving, to be served concurrently. He also imposed a five-year suspension of her driver's license.
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While you see that the Court's sentence seems lenient consdiering the consequences, in fact any mother, any real parent understands why this post says Mrs. McKinley received a "life sentence."