Driver gets 3 years in DWI death
NEW ROADS — A woman who pleaded guilty to causing a fatal intersection collision while driving drunk on Dec. 23, 2009, in New Roads will have to serve a three-year prison term, according to 18th Judicial District Court records.
District Judge Alvin Batiste Jr. on Tuesday sentenced Victoria Gosserand, 25, 7702 Cook’s Landing, Ventress, to five years in prison for her vehicular homicide conviction in the death of Terri Parker, 23, of New Roads.
That sentence will run concurrently with Gosserand’s three-year sentence for a second conviction on a charge of first-degree negligent vehicular injuring, Batiste ordered.
As part of a plea deal between prosecutors and the defense, the judge suspended two years of Gosserand’s five-year vehicular homicide sentence for time she already served in an inpatient treatment center. During that treatment, she was required to wear an electronic monitoring device, court records state.
Assistant District Attorney Chad Aguillard said Wednesday that Gosserand would have to serve two years of supervised probation after she is released from prison and must have an ignition interlock device installed on any car she drives while on probation.
An ignition interlock device is an in-car alcohol breath-screening device connected to the engine’s ignition system to prevent the vehicle from starting if it detects a blood alcohol level above a preset limit, according to the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles website. The devices may be required to be installed in vehicles prior to the reinstatement of driving privileges, the agency states.
Aguillard said Gosserand further would be required to make public presentations through Mothers Against Drunk Driving to students in area high schools and elementary schools about the dangers of drinking and driving.
Prosecutors charged that Gosserand was driving drunk in 2009 when she ran a red light at False River Drive and Hospital Road, crashing into another car and killing the driver, Terri Parker.
A New Roads police officer, Brandon Spillman, testified prior to Gosserand’s pleas that he witnessed the defendant crash into Kyle Riviere’s Toyota Camry as Riviere tried to make a left turn onto False River Drive.
The impact spent both vehicles spinning and Parker’s body flying through the air, Spillman reported.
Gosserand pleaded no contest in March to charges stemming from the incident.
Authorities previously reported that Gosserand’s blood-alcohol content was 0.30 percent, or nearly four times the 0.08 percent blood-alcohol content which is considered presumptive evidence of drunken driving in Louisiana.
The victim’s relatives, who attended Gosserand’s sentencing Tuesday, told the judge they agreed with Gosserand’s plea deal, Aguillard said.
The judge ordered Gosserand to surrender within 72 hours at the West Baton Rouge Detention Center to begin serving her prison sentence.