Woman sentenced to 13 months for fatal crash

ENFIELD, Conn. (AP) — A Suffield woman was sentenced Tuesday to serve 13 months in jail for a car crash on Interstate 91 in Enfield in which one of her friends died and another was severely injured.

Amanda Conway, who was 18 at the time of the crash in 2010, pleaded no contest in May to second-degree manslaughter with a motor vehicle and an assault charge.

Witnesses said she had been drinking vodka at a party before getting behind the wheel of a Jeep belonging to her father, Matthew Conway, who represented Suffield, East Windsor and Granby in the legislature at the time. She lost control of the Jeep on an on-ramp to I-91 before it was struck by a tractor-trailer, according to state police.

Conway's 17-year-old friend, Alexa Crosby, died in the accident and another friend who was 19 at the time suffered cuts that disfigured her face.

The family of Crosby is suing Conway and her father, alleging that Conway was under the influence and drugs or alcohol and speeding at the time of the accident at 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 25, 2010.

An Enfield Superior Court judge on Tuesday sentenced Conway to five years in jail, suspended after 13 months, followed by five years of probation. She is to begin serving her sentence on Aug. 7.