A LaPorte woman was sentenced earlier this month to six years in prison after pleading guilty to a charge of operating while intoxicated-causing death, in connection with an accident in Jackson Township in September 2007 which killed a LaPorte County man, the Porter County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said.

Amanda Buchta was sentenced to 10 years in the Indiana Department of Correction, four of those years suspended and to be served on formal probation following her release, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Bennett told the Chesterton Tribune today.

Buchta’s sentence was stipulated in the plea agreement, Bennett noted. Not stipulated was the length of her driver’s license suspension. Bennett said that he had argued for a five-year suspension. Porter Superior Court Judge Bill Alexa instead ordered the statutory minimum two-year suspension.

Buchta was originally charged with two Class B felonies, each punishable by a term of six to 20 years: operating a motor vehicle with a controlled substance in the blood-causing death; and OWI-causing death with a prior conviction within the last five years.

Buchta was also charged with seven lesser felonies and three misdemeanors. Under Indiana Code, all lesser and included charges are dismissed on a judge’s acceptance of a person’s plea.

Bennett said that less than a year before the fatal crash, Buchta was convicted of OWI.

According to the Porter County Sheriff’s Police, at 12:13 a.m. on Sept. 26, 2007, Buchta was westbound on U.S. Highway 6 in a Pontiac Grand Prix, west of C.R. 400E, when she left the roadway to the north and, in an apparent attempt to re-gain control, over-corrected, crossed the center line, and collided with a semi-tractor trailer eastbound on U.S. 6.

Buchta’s front-seat passenger, Adam Candlar, 19, was pronounced dead at the scene. Buchta’s rear-seat passenger, Sierra Marquardt, also of LaPorte County, was seriously injured in the crash. The trucker, James Stetter of Ohio, was not injured.

Police said that, on an initial test, Buchta registered a a blood alcohol content of .03 percent with 51.9 ng/ml of a marijuana metabolite; and on a second blood test, taken 61 minutes later, a B.A.C. of .02 percent with 47.4 ng/ml of a marijuana metabolite.

Police said that Buchta’s speedometer was stuck at 77 miles per hour as a result of the crash.

Posted 2/28/2011