Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 27, 1992 TAG: 9202270327
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NEAL THOMPSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
HIT-AND-RUN DRIVER GETS PROBATION
Lisa Ann Laughlin wouldn't drive her car and needed psychological counseling in the months after she'd struck and killed a man in a hit-and-run car crash in August.That information played a part in the sentence Laughlin received Wednesday in Bedford County Circuit Court - two years' probation. Laughlin, who pleaded guilty in December to hit-and-run, could have been sentenced to prison for up to five years.
Testifying for the first time since she was charged, Laughlin, 23, said Wednesday that she knew she had hit something the morning of Aug. 4, but she didn't know what it was. She panicked and continued driving east of Bedford to her home in Bedford County, where she smoked a cigarette and then slept.
Laughlin was driving east on U.S. 460 about 4 a.m. when she struck and killed Alfred Edward Acey, 56. The divided road has two lanes of traffic in each direction and Acey was standing in the right-hand lane of eastbound traffic when he was hit.
Acey's car was parked partly in the highway and he was standing next to the driver's-side door, apparently trying to repair an electrical problem.
The car's lights were dimly lit and Laughlin said she didn't see the car until it was too late.
Acey's body was thrown or carried 173 feet.
Acey, a Bedford County resident, retired in 1985 as a professor and psychology department chairman at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland.
Laughlin works in a Bedford nursing home.
Bedford County Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Philip Baker had argued that Laughlin wasn't at fault for hitting Acey, but for leaving the scene.
Baker said that because Acey's car was parked on the highway and its lights were not bright, Acey "put himself in a situation where his vehicle could be hit."
"The victim would have been hard to see," Baker said. Therefore, he did not argue for a stricter sentence.
Keywords:
FATALITY