A Mississippi casino dealer has been jailed for 25 years for killing a Dublin woman in a drunken hit-and-run accident.
Traeacy Staunton had been attending university in Mississippi on a soccer scholarship. She was killed when her car was hit by Michael Joseph Kramm, who drank at least ten beers before the accident.
A jury convicted Kramm in Biloxi, Mississippi, after watching a police video of Kramm's slurred speech after the accident on December 5th, 2002.
The jury found Kramm guilty of drunken driving and leaving the scene of an accident. Members of Ms Staunton's family, including her father, and classmates were in court to hear the verdict.
Ms Staunton, who was 20-years-old, had been attending William Carey College in Gulfport, Mississippi.
She had previously coached children's soccer teams in Ireland before receiving a soccer scholarship to William Carey College. She and four friends were waiting at a red light when Kramm's hit their car from behind. Ms Staunton died at a local hospital about an hour after the crash.
Kramm (28), of Pass Christian, Mississippi, asked for forgiveness from the Staunton family after he was sentenced.
Kramm had been drinking in a casino before the accident. After he hit the car, he fled the scene and parked his car at an army retirement home but was spotted by witnesses.