Crime & Safety

Sentence Reduced for Driver in Crash That Killed Magruder Senior and Grads

Survivor: Kevin Coffay fled the scene after the crash.

A panel of judges on Friday reduced the sentence of the driver involved in in Olney in May, according to media reports.

A panel of three judges reduced the sentence for Kevin Coffay, 21, of Rockville, from 20 years to eight years, The Washington Post reported.

ABC7 reported that the new sentence was for 15 years in prison, with seven suspended. Coffay could be eligible for parole next year, ABC7 reported.

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Coffay to three counts of vehicular manslaughter and one count of failing to remain at the scene of a crash where a death occurred.

Coffay was in Montgomery County Circuit Court in Rockville on Friday under a Maryland law that allows a defendant to contest their sentence without going to an appeals court, The Post reported.

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students in bright yellow T-shirts with anti-drunk driving messages packed the courtroom on Friday, ABC7 reported.

Coffay’s bid for a reduced sentence reopened wounds for the victims’ families and throughout the Derwood community, The Post reported in a front-page story on Friday.

The crash occurred about 3 a.m. May 15 along Olney-Laytonsville Road, when, police said, the Toyota Corolla driven by Coffay hit a telephone pole and two trees.

Charles Nardella, 19, of Gaithersburg, the only passenger in the car to survive the crash, reportedly told police that Coffay immediately fled the scene.

Coffay was arrested three-and-a-half hours later after trying to enter his home in the 16700 block of Cutlass Drive in Rockville. He had a blood alcohol level of 0.16—twice the legal limit in Maryland, The Post reported.

Haeley N. McGuire, 18, of the 5600 block of Artesian Drive in Derwood, a Magruder High senior; Spencer Datt, 18, of the 5700 block of Sunrise Hill Road in Derwood; and John Hoover, 20, of the 5800 block of Rolling Drive in Derwood, died.


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