SOMERVILLE, N.J. (AP) – A former “Melrose Place” actress convicted in a fatal drunken driving accident won’t have to go back to prison, a judge ruled Friday at a resentencing spurred by an appeals court’s concerns that her original sentence may have been too lenient.
Amy Locane-Bovenizer served about two and a half years of a three-year sentence for the 2010 accident in Montgomery Township that killed 60-year-old Helene Seeman and seriously injured Seeman’s husband, Fred. She was released in 2015.
The actress was convicted of vehicular manslaughter, assault by auto and other offenses and faced a sentencing range of five to 10 years on the most serious count. Her defense had argued the crash was an accident.
A state appeals court last July ordered the judge to offer a more detailed justification for why he downgraded Locane-Bovenizer’s sentence to three years. State Superior Court Judge Robert Reed later conceded he erred and should have sentenced her to an additional six months.
Prosecutors had sought a seven-year sentence.