'Melrose Place' actress convicted of vehicular homicide
SOMERVILLE, N.J. (AP) - A former "Melrose Place" actress who was driving drunk when her SUV plowed into another car, killing a woman, was convicted Tuesday of vehicular homicide and jailed after her bail was revoked. She was acquitted of a more serious charge of aggravated manslaughter.
Amy Locane-Bovenizer, 40, had sought to shift blame for the fatal accident to a third motorist whose car she had rear-ended and who had been pursuing the actress, and also to the husband of the car accident victim for making what witnesses said was a slow turn in front of her SUV.
But the conviction on a charge of death by auto, also known as vehicular homicide, was as a matter of law a "rejection of that defense," Assistant Prosecutor Matthew Murphy said following the verdict.
Locane-Bovenizer's blood-alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit when the crash occurred in 2010 on a dark two-lane road in Montgomery Township, in central New Jersey, according to evidence presented at the trial.
The defense did not dispute she was drunk, arguing only that she should not be held criminally responsible.
Locane-Bovenizer, who did not testify at the trial, appeared in 13 episodes of TV's "Melrose Place" and in movies including "Cry-Baby," ''School Ties" and "Secretary."
She faces five to 10 years in prison on the vehicular homicide count and must serve a minimum of 85 percent of that sentence without parole. She also faces three to five years in prison for her conviction on a second count of assault by auto, which stemmed from injuries she caused the husband of the woman killed in the crash. Sentencing was set for March 1; motor vehicle charges are also pending.
Helene Seeman, 60, was killed in the accident, and her husband, Fred Seeman, was seriously injured. He was turning their car into their driveway when Locane-Bovenizer's SUV slammed into them.
"This is a sad day for the Seeman Family. There were no winners declared by the verdict. There are only losers," Murphy said. "A husband lost his dear wife; his two children lost their mother; and Helene's mother lost her daughter. That loss can never be rectified by a verdict."
The trial began in early October, with more than 50 witnesses taking the stand. Murphy said the Somerset County prosecutor's office was committed to spend "whatever public funds were necessary to match the financial resources available to the defense team."
To prove her guilty of aggravated manslaughter, the prosecution had to show Locane-Bovenizer not only caused Seeman's death, but also that she did so under circumstances showing extreme indifference to human life and by acting recklessly.
A mother of two living in Hopewell Township and acting in community theater, Locane-Bovenizer had begun drinking the night of the accident at a cast party, testimony showed. Witnesses said she also drank at a barbecue she later attended with her family before leaving on her own.
The defense sought to place much of the blame on the accident on the third motorist, Maureen Ruckelshaus, who was pursuing Locane-Bovenizer after being rear-ended.
Ruckelshaus said she had told the clearly intoxicated driver to turn off her SUV, but that the woman drove off.
"I knew how drunk she was," Ruckelshaus testified. "My reaction was, 'Oh my God, I have to figure out a way to get her to pull over.'"
The defense portrayed Ruckelshaus as a vigilante who frightened the former actress by trying to grab her keys from the ignition and then giving chase. The defense said Locane-Bovenizer even offered Ruckelshaus her cellphone to call police.
Ruckelshaus denied reaching in for the keys. "I said, 'I don't want your cellphone. ... I want you to turn your car off,'" she testified.
Ruckelshaus followed the former actress for about four miles, with both going about the speed limit of 35 mph for most of the way until a car in front of them moved out of the way and Locane-Bovenizer accelerated to more than 50 mph just prior to the crash, according to evidence presented at the trial.
Amy Locane-Bovenizer, 40, had sought to shift blame for the fatal accident to a third motorist whose car she had rear-ended and who had been pursuing the actress, and also to the husband of the car accident victim for making what witnesses said was a slow turn in front of her SUV.
But the conviction on a charge of death by auto, also known as vehicular homicide, was as a matter of law a "rejection of that defense," Assistant Prosecutor Matthew Murphy said following the verdict.
Locane-Bovenizer's blood-alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit when the crash occurred in 2010 on a dark two-lane road in Montgomery Township, in central New Jersey, according to evidence presented at the trial.
The defense did not dispute she was drunk, arguing only that she should not be held criminally responsible.
Locane-Bovenizer, who did not testify at the trial, appeared in 13 episodes of TV's "Melrose Place" and in movies including "Cry-Baby," ''School Ties" and "Secretary."
She faces five to 10 years in prison on the vehicular homicide count and must serve a minimum of 85 percent of that sentence without parole. She also faces three to five years in prison for her conviction on a second count of assault by auto, which stemmed from injuries she caused the husband of the woman killed in the crash. Sentencing was set for March 1; motor vehicle charges are also pending.
Helene Seeman, 60, was killed in the accident, and her husband, Fred Seeman, was seriously injured. He was turning their car into their driveway when Locane-Bovenizer's SUV slammed into them.
"This is a sad day for the Seeman Family. There were no winners declared by the verdict. There are only losers," Murphy said. "A husband lost his dear wife; his two children lost their mother; and Helene's mother lost her daughter. That loss can never be rectified by a verdict."
The trial began in early October, with more than 50 witnesses taking the stand. Murphy said the Somerset County prosecutor's office was committed to spend "whatever public funds were necessary to match the financial resources available to the defense team."
To prove her guilty of aggravated manslaughter, the prosecution had to show Locane-Bovenizer not only caused Seeman's death, but also that she did so under circumstances showing extreme indifference to human life and by acting recklessly.
A mother of two living in Hopewell Township and acting in community theater, Locane-Bovenizer had begun drinking the night of the accident at a cast party, testimony showed. Witnesses said she also drank at a barbecue she later attended with her family before leaving on her own.
The defense sought to place much of the blame on the accident on the third motorist, Maureen Ruckelshaus, who was pursuing Locane-Bovenizer after being rear-ended.
Ruckelshaus said she had told the clearly intoxicated driver to turn off her SUV, but that the woman drove off.
"I knew how drunk she was," Ruckelshaus testified. "My reaction was, 'Oh my God, I have to figure out a way to get her to pull over.'"
The defense portrayed Ruckelshaus as a vigilante who frightened the former actress by trying to grab her keys from the ignition and then giving chase. The defense said Locane-Bovenizer even offered Ruckelshaus her cellphone to call police.
Ruckelshaus denied reaching in for the keys. "I said, 'I don't want your cellphone. ... I want you to turn your car off,'" she testified.
Ruckelshaus followed the former actress for about four miles, with both going about the speed limit of 35 mph for most of the way until a car in front of them moved out of the way and Locane-Bovenizer accelerated to more than 50 mph just prior to the crash, according to evidence presented at the trial.
She is a self absorbed amoral bi###. She couldn't care less that she killed someone. Lock her up and toss the key. Protect the rest of us because when she gets out she will be right back on the road drinking and killing.
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Talentless hack.
This whole thing is just terrible...all the way around. However...there apparently are ALOT of ways to keep "defe rring" your DUI charges...say for instance...here in the state of washington...if your defense lawyer works out of Barbara Bouden's office..supposedly some big time lawyer in this town...and your lawyer from that firm is named Phil....and you dont mind doing whatever it takes...you can go to the mall while on house arrest and if your good enough in bed you dont have to pay for any wrong doing. This was a "friend" of mine. Her LAWYER told her to give me her keys...she was too drunk to drive...he was too...she gave me the keys but as soon as we got to the car she snatched them out of my hands and told me she WOULD NOT let me drive. She was my ride...i was scared for my life. Niether one of them slowed down on hwy 18....she always refused to let me drive. I gave up that friendship because 3 DUI's in less than 3 years and NEVER ONCE did she ever have to own up to the responsibility and even after crashing her car..injuring herself and a passenger....she didnt stop. Im ashamed I called someone like this my friend. I am a recovering alcoholic. And yes....if i have no one else around or no money for a cab.....yes i will drink alone in my house!!!!!!!! "having a good time"......IS NEVER WORTH SOMEONES LIFE.
Drunk driving should make her responsible for the death. Anyone who drinks and drives should be found guilty of any offense committed whether or not it's their fault. Does that sound like a vendetta against those who drink and drive? It is.
Who cares.............This is a none story about a nobody............
 @grog I would think that the victim's family would care about a story of the one who was responsible has been convicted.
 I am disgusted by the bone-headed comments of some people on this board. The ONLY blame for the two collisions and fatality belongs to the selfish, drunk pig driving her car. It is insane that anyone would attempt to blame the victims.
 She should have been jailed for 25 years to life - Amy Locane-Bovenizer took the life of an innocent woman who would likely still be alive if she hadn't made the CHOICE to drink to excess then get behind the wheel of a car.
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 What I find most disturbing is that idiots would actually believe that the situation occured as described by the defendant who was intoxicated over 3 times the legal limit when she slammed into not one, but two vehicles: She was so impaired that her testimony is entirely unreliable.
There should have also been a hit and run charge for the first accident.
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In the future, people will be able to buy driverless cars, I wonder if they will still be required to be sober in case there is a malfunction.Â
She's thinking, all that expensive plastic surgery going to waste in the joint. Who's going to do her hair and nails now?
 @joefuss Oh, there'll be plenty of women in there who can knock it out of the park as to a fine makeup job on her. Too bad she's got nowhere to go and nobody to see it except a bunch of women!Â
She was drunk. She was speeding. The 'do-gooder' should have just called the police and not pursued her, though. Â And if you make a turn in front of another car, that is your fault.. but then the drunk woman was speeding. Â Sounds like lots of blame to go around. All of which would have not happened, had she not gotten into her car drunk. Â Â
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The problem that most drunk drivers have, is that they NEVER seem to plan ahead. C'mon people. If you are a drinker, then why do you bring your own car to parties and bars? Â It's almost as if they tell themselves that they'll just have on or two drinks... total denial. Â Then how many of them are willing to leave their car there and call a cab or a friend to bring them home. Â If you drink, don't drive to the bar or party. Period. Â You don't have the judgment skills while hammered, to realize that someone needs to take you home. Â
 @DT The one you referred to as a do-gooder was actually a hit-and-run victim of this drunken idiot. Drunken idiot refused to shut off her engine, then drove off without leaving any information.Â
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I absolutely hated this woman's character in the movie School Ties, even looked now to see if that's the role she played, which is a testament to her acting talent.
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Too bad underneath it all she's a cowardly loser and murdering drunk driver. If she has to serve 85 percent of a 5- to 10-year sentence, she's looking at a minimum of four years and a couple of months.
Even if they borrow from Washington state's Criminal Coddling 101 manual and let her serve the hit-and-run charge concurrently (which of course is impossible, just another weakening of accountability), she'll not be driving drunk for awhile.Â
@DT These people were turning into their driveway and I fail to see how they were to blame when the lady that hit them was impared and under normal circumstances would have been able to stop. This lady needs to take the blame all the way around here, it was no one else's fault but hers.
 @Jatok  @DT A thousand LIKEs!
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And under normal circumstances, anyone with a shred of self-respect and common decency would have already been stopped at the scene of the other wreck she'd just drunkenly caused and was speeding away from.
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So the woman she murdered, and the man whose life she essentially destroyed by killing his wife and seriously injuring him, would already have been out of their driveways and headed where they'd been going.Â
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I have a great deal of experience, over 14 years, meeting with alcoholics and addicts.  One thing I have observed, specifically related to driving, is that there appears to be two kinds of alcoholics.  One never drives drunk, ever-- I can't explain why, but there's something about them that simply dictates this.  They drink, and they don't drive.  The other always drives when they are drunk, no matter how drunk, and it will be a fight to get their keys.  I have never seen anything, other than removing access to the vehicle, that solves for this.  I have never observed an alcoholic change their driving behavior because of an incident of any kind, or because of incarceration.  They just keep driving.  I believe the only way to handle alcoholic drivers is to deny them access to vehicles, and to jail them for a long, long, long time for a repeat conviction.  Some drunk drivers are not alcoholics-- in my experience they rarely re-offend.  But alcoholic drunk drivers?  That's another story. Â
 @MPS I sense by your detailed explanations that your experience is at least partially up close and personal with family and/or friends, and not just job-related.Â
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Sorry you've had to deal with that on any level, and thanks for being willing to share your insight even if it stirs up painful memories.Â
 @MPS I agree with your observation. I think it's possible to be addicted to alcohol, but still be a responsible citizen.
 @MPS The kind of alcoholic that never drives drunk probably does so, at least in part, because they don't want to jeopardize their addictions.
 @nodozr  @MPS This is the part I've never understood â if you're an addict, it seems your first (and maybe only) priority is getting that substance into your body as efficiently as possible.
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So why would you (generic you, not nodozr personally!!) want to spend $10-plus for a couple of watery little shots when you could buy a big fat bottle of probably even better quality stuff for that money?Â
 @MargeGunderson  @MPS Stay at home and drink by myself? What do you think I am, an alcoholic?!?
Maybe she will avail herself of the AA meetings held inside the prison.
Can't wait to see her on Nat Geo "Hardtime."
Typical narcissistic drunk, trying to place blame anywhere except where it belongs. I hope she gets the maximum of that far too short sentencing range, and spends every last second of it behind bars.
This is what happens when you lie to yourself about 1. having an addiction and 2. being in control when heavily under the influence of the substance you're addicted to. Innocent people get hurt or die.
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This should be a cautionary tale, but sadly it won't be. Something like this will happen here before next weekend's over. It almost always does. Meanwhile, anyone want to make a guess as to how many are currently on Washington's roads in the same condition as Locaine-Bovenizer was? Drunk and buzzed drivers are murders waiting to happen.
 @Purrl Gurrl Drunk and buzzed drivers are murderERs waiting to happen.
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There. Fixed that for you.
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As someone whose Aunt was run over and killed at a crosswalk by a drunk driver running a red light, this story hits a little too close to home. This POS needs to have a FAR harsher sentence than 5-10 years. Even if she gets the max, and no parole, 10 years is far too short an amount of time to have killed an innocent.
Dang, can anyone imagine a sentence that strong being enforced in the nanny state for drunk driving, glad to see New Jersey takes drunk driving seriously..
@Windowseat You might feel better to know that as of July 2012 the State of Wa. increased their penalties for a DUI vehicular homicide. A conviction now carries a penalty of 6 1/2 to 8 1/2 years in prison, with a 12 month enhancement if the convicted driver has a child under the age of 16 in their car at the time of the collision. I wouldn't mind seeing the mandatory sentence go even higher, but it is a lot better than the 3 1/2 years a conviction used to carry.
Just based on the fact that she tried to shift blame onto the husband of the woman she killed - Amy deserves every minute she serves.Â
Who?