COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A woman pleaded guilty Thursday to driving drunk in a crash that killed a 59-year-old woman.
Courtney Washbourne, 39, is accused of causing a wreck on Johnson Ferry Road last August that killed Sheri Freeman, 59.
“I am truly so, so sorry for your loss,” Washbourne said to Freeman’s family in court. “I apologize for my actions and will regret them forever.”
Many of Freeman’s family members packed the courtroom to hear from the woman responsible for the crash.
“The sudden loss of a loved one is always hard, but coming to grips with Sheri’s death has been all the more difficult because it was the result of one very selfish and one very reckless decision,” the victim’s cousin, Michelle Mcree said.
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Washbourne admitted to a lifelong battle with alcoholism. She was on her way to a treatment center in Florida when the wreck happened.
Police found beer in the front seat and her blood alcohol level hours later was more than twice the legal limit.
Washbourne agreed to plea deal of eight years in prison and seven on probation.
Assistant district attorney Patricia Hunt told the judge that Freeman’s family agreed with the prison sentence, but did not like the First Offender request, which, if Washbourne stayed clean after her prison term, could wipe her record clean.
“And it does not feel like justice to know that while she (Freeman) is gone, the person who killed her has her record wiped clean. It just does not feel like justice to us,” Mcree said.
Judge Kimberly Childs denied Washbourne’s request for first offender status.
She will get mandatory alcohol treatment once she’s released from prison.