A 27-year-old San Francisco woman who caused the deaths of two Cloverdale women in a crash that occurred after she had been wine tasting was sentenced Friday to three years, eight months in state prison.
Lyndsay Murray-Mazany, 27, had pleaded guilty to two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter and felony drunken driving in the July 18 crash near Geyserville that killed Bev Jones and Nancy "Sue" McBride, both 77.
Her family, and those of the people killed and injured in the collision, came together Friday in an emotionally charged hearing with a recurring theme: "There are no winners here, there's only losers" and a pervading sense of all that was taken that day.
"We just don't know what we're going to do," said a crying Tom McBride, Nancy McBride's son. "Our mother was such a powerful force, and now it's up to us." He then asked the judge to show leniency.
Murray-Mazany was the designated driver on a wine-tasting tour in Dry Creek Valley at the time of the crash. Tested at the scene, she had a blood-alcohol level of 0.10 percent, just over the 0.08 level at which drivers are presumed by law to be under the influence.
The CHP said she was driving 45 mph when she crossed the double yellow lines and slammed into the car carrying Jones and McBride.
The two women killed were well known in Cloverdale. They were part of a tight-knit group of friends who that afternoon were on a regular Sunday outing. Murray-Mazany had never had a brush with the law and, her supporters said, is a caring, conscientious woman.
Her family and those of Jones and McBride have prayed together since the crash. Some of Jones' and McBride's family members asked the judge to be lenient. Murray-Mazany's family told the victims' families how sorry they were for their loss.
Prosecutors asked Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Rene Chouteau to impose a seven year sentence, the maximum he'd indicated he would hand down.
"She destroyed the lives of five families and there is no excuse for it," Deputy District Attorney Robin Hammond said. "There needs to be some serious consequences."
She said statements by Murray-Mazany that she had been on wine tasting trips and had arranged for designated drivers indicated she knew the implications of drinking and driving.
"She is someone who should have known the risks," Hammond said.
Murray-Mazany's attorney, Chris Andrian, argued for probation. His client could do more good on probabtion so that the could educate people about the dangers of drinking and driving, he said, going on to describe in ugly terms the prison system where Hammond wanted her sent.
"Why do we want to do that?" Andrian said. "What's going to be gained by that?"
He also criticized laws that allow drinking and driving, then prohibit it after a certain point - 0.08. And, he said, in a county where wine is "celebrated," any number of esteemed and upright citizens could in other circumstances have been standing by him awaiting a sentence.
"I've had so many people come up to me and say, &‘That could have been me,'" he said.
Murray-Mazany spoke briefly after Andrian concluded.
She faced the 40 or so supporters of the victims in tears and said: "I'm really, really sorry for anything I caused anyone . . . I'm so, so sorry."
Seven years was "excessive," Chouteau said., but "a prison sentence is warranted." He said Murray-Mazany's actions had "killed two innocent people and injured and maimed three more."
And he called aspects of the case "horrifying" in their impact on the victims, their families and the community.
As bailiffs handcuffed Murray-Mazany and led her from the courtroom, most of her 75 supporters sobbed. She mouthed "I love you" to them. They called out the same to her.
The afternoon hearing was filled with emotion throughout, as were the minutes before and after. While they sat separately in the courtroom, in the hall families and friends from both sides cried, stood arm-to-arm and at times talked.
Katherine Hinzman, who was driving the car that day of the crash, addressed Chouteau. "I can still see my two best friends sitting in the back seat of my car," she said. "I don't think she needs probation, I think she needs a full sentence."
Bob Jones, the oldest son of Bev Jones, spoke. And as he did, some of Murray-Mazany's supporters broke down.
"My mother right now would not be seeking vengeance," he said. Murray-Mazany had "remorse" in her heart and felt "terror" at the prospect of prison, he said, asking Chouteau to sentence her to probation.
"Every one of us at one point in our life has driven after drinking," he said.
Tom McBride voiced a similar sentiment. "I know that my mother would not have a vengeful thought to this young lady. Anyone can make a mistake. It was just a senseless thing," he said.
As they left the courthouse, some of the family members and friends of the victims were in tears. "I just really loved her, said Bee Jones, Bev Jones' daughter. "Nothing about today was a good day."
A friend of the Jones and McBride families, Ann Turek, said: "Everyone is heartbroken, there's nobody walking out of here feeling good."
Upstairs, in the hallway outside the courtroom, one of Jones' grandsons said he hoped the sentence would lead to something positive.
"This could be a real powerful tool," Troy Jones said. "It's the consequences of our mistakes that help people realize the severity of the mistake."
A few minutes later, Murray-Mazany called her father's cell phone from the jail. He told her she was on speaker phone. Her family gathered around.
"Are you okay?" she said.
Later yet, in the rain, her father said of the families of Jones and McBride, "I can't thank them enough for getting up and saying what they did."
Then, Dan Mazany added, "I don't know how we're going to do it. I fear for her safety, she's going to be easy prey in the prison system."
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