Hit-and-run suspect Laura Flanders gets 6 years behind bars for killing Peoria teen
Posted: 02/07/2013
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By: Courtney Carlmark
PHOENIX - A judge has sentenced a Valley woman to six years behind bars for the fatal hit-and-run that killed a Peoria teen more than two years ago.
Laura Flanders will also get three years of supervised probation once she gets out.
Flanders pleaded guilty to negligent homicide and leaving the scene of a fatal collision as part of a plea deal.
Police say Flanders drove onto the sidewalk and hit 18-year-old Joey Romero while he was walking home from work in October 2010.
Flanders admitted to being on migraine medication at the time of the crash.
According to records, Flanders was so heavily medicated, she accidentally drank a bottle of nail polish before the crash, and didn't realize until she spit it out.
Romero died several days later in the hospital.
Romero's father made it his mission to change Arizona's hit-and-run laws after his son's death.
Jesse Romero got "Joey's Law" passed in 2012.
It stiffens penalties for drivers who leave the scene of a fatal crash.
Romero's family members and friends were in the courtroom Thursday and asked the judge for the stiffer sentence of six years behind bars.
The defendant's family members wanted only four years.
Flanders is now 25 years old and a single mother to a 7-year-old boy.
Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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