A Michigan City woman has been sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to operating while intoxicated in connection with a fatal accident in 2010 at the intersection of U.S. Highway 20 and Waverly Road in Porter.

On Tuesday, Sandra Ann Everly, 55, with listed addresses in both Michigan City and Westville, was sentenced to 10 years in the Indiana Department of Correction, four of those years suspended and to be served on formal probation.

Earlier this year Everly agreed to plead guilty to the most serious of the four felony counts filed against her, a Class B felony: OWI while being over 21 with a blood alcohol content of .15 percent-causing death.

A Class B felony is punishable by a term of eight to 20 years.

The plead-and-argue agreement specifically capped Everly’s prison term at a maximum of eight years.

In her sentencing order, Porter Circuit Court Judge Mary Harper found no aggravating factors but did make note of two mitigating ones: that Everly has admitted guilt; and that she has led a “law-abiding life for (a) substantial time” prior to the accident.

Harper also dismissed all lesser and included charges, three other felony counts and three misdemeanor ones.

According to Porter Police, at 9:40 p.m. Aug. 20, 2010, Everly was westbound on U.S. 20 in a Chevrolet Cavalier when she rear ended a second vehicle at the intersection of Waverly Road. One witness, also westbound on U.S. 20, advised that Everly nearly sideswiped them and had been “moving all over the road,” while another—at the Porter Quick Stop—advised that he did not see brake lights activate on the Cavalier before the crash, police said.

Everly and her passenger, William Hertaus, were both trapped in the Cavalier and had to be extricated by Porter firefighters. Hertaus suffered injuries to his neck and head and died less than a week later, on Aug. 25.

Everly subsequently registered a blood alcohol content of .27 percent, more than three times the legal limit.

Posted 5/2/2012