Concord – April 21, 2010 — Erica Blizzard was sentenced today to six months in jail, followed by six months of home confinement, for killing her best friend in a speed boat crash after a night of drinking.
Blizzard, 36, of Laconia, was convicted March 18 of negligent homicide in the 2008 crash into a ledge on Diamond Island in Lake Winnipesaukee. Stephanie Beaudoin, of Meredith, died, and Blizzard and another passenger were injured.
“I lost my best friend, and that is something I will have to live with for the rest of my life,” Blizzard, her voice breaking at the beginning, read from a prepared statement before she was sentenced.
Blizzard is to report June 1 to the Belknap County House of Corrections and may be eligible for work release. After that, she has to wear an electronic bracelet for the six-month home confinement sentence.
She also must pay more than $15,000 to Beaudoin’s family for funeral costs and $4,000 to the New Hampshire Marine Patrol for its rescue efforts. She also was ordered to do 200 hours of community service.
She could have received up to seven years in prison. County Attorney James Carroll had recommended that she serve one to three years. He also asked that Blizzard’s licenses to operate a boat and car be removed for three years; Judge Kathleen McGuire did not address the request.
six months! what a scam…. sorry that she killed her friend….. at her age she should have known better… what a black mark on anyone who has a performace boat…no loss of license? she will be back out on the lake by fall… sounds like she bought her way out of this one….what about her boat license? if she ever had one… If you get drunk and stopped on your boat you lose your right to drive anything….. I guess killing people doesn’t matter….
no doubt…car, boat or whatever the state should not allow anyone convicted of DUI to keep their license…let alone if there is a death involved. still, I feel bad for all involved. you have to believe she will be miserable for a long time knowing she is responsible for her friends death
She lost her license for 3 years.
Suspension of licenses, whether for car or boat, is a joke. Offenders continue to operate.
What really needs to be done is to imprison all offenders for a minimum of 1 year, and for those cases with death resulting, a minimum of 25 years. Repeat offenders with deaths resulting – how about the death penalty!