running down a retired Catholic priest while being drunk.
Karen L. Fisher admitted she was in a stupor last July 18 when she climbed behind the wheel of her minivan and struck the 79-year old retired Priest William F. Costello, as he was out for an evening stroll near his sister’s home in East Hampton, New York.
Costello, who served at the Church of St. Anne in Garden City, New York, died almost immediately. The police said Fisher, was hit the priest with her 2003 Dodge Caravan "with such force that his body smashed through the windshield."
He was soon pronounced dead at Southhampton Hospital. Fisher, who did not stop, was arrested a short time later at her East Hampton home. Prosecutors said Fisher’s blood-alcohol level was 0.28 two hours after she ran down Costello. The legal limit in New York is 0.08.
PLEADING GUILTY
The woman, who pleaded guilty last month to manslaughter and drunk-driving in Costello’s death, apparently fought back tears and apologized to the priest’s family before the sentence was pronounced. "I know what happened was devastating to all of you," she said. "I don’t expect your forgiveness, but I truly am sorry."
State Supreme Court Justice Robert Doyle did not appear in a mood for leniency, adding instead a year to her minimum sentence after learning of the lapses in her alcohol rehabilitation. Doyle
sent her to state prison for a term of four to 12 years.
The judge was upset that Fisher reportedly continued to get drunk while living in a rehabilitation center, from which she was forced to leave. In asking for leniency, Fisher’s attorney said that
were it not for her alcohol problem, she would be a responsible mother and wife.
PREVIOUS ARRESTS
Before killing priest, she already faced a drunken-driving arrest in 2003 and another in 2006
with her daughters in the car.
In a statement read on behalf of the family, the priest’s nephew, Michael Costello, said they "acknowledged from the beginning that Karen is very ill and needs help." However, he said, "if anything could have made Karen aware that she needed to help herself by never, ever having another drink, one would hope it would have been the night she ran over and killed a man while driving drunk on a suspended license."
He added that, "Apparently none of this was enough to inspire Karen to help herself by living a permanently sober life."
