The Nenana woman, Edna Hancock, age 57, who was involved in a fatal highway crash while under the influence of alcohol, was sentenced in a Fairbanks District Court Tuesday.

Hancock was sentenced to the maximum allowed for a first offense DUI driver, which is 365 days, but 320 days of that sentence was suspended. She was also fined $1,500. she was given a 10-year probation period, during that 10 years, she has been ordered to not consume any alcohol. Alcohol testing during that period Is also required. A violation of her probation will mean jail time.

Hancock was charged with driving under the influence rather than manslaughter because the state of Alaska could not prove that she caused the crash that occurred in the year 2010. Her alcohol level at the time of the incident was .279.

Assistant Dist. Atty. David Buettner said of the decision to charge her with driving under the influence rather than manslaughter was because the state was unable to prove the manslaughter charges.

“We have a pretty good idea that she was the cause of the collision,” Buettner said, “but having a pretty good idea is different than being able to prove it.” he said.

On December 21, 2010, Hancock was driving a 1993 Chevy Suburban when she collided with a sedan near Ester driven by Jerry Hunt, age 24, of Dillingham. The collision caused the death of Andrea Ruby, age 28. She died at the scene. Both Handcock and the driver of the sedan, Hunt, were seriously injured in the accident and flown to Anchorage to a hospital there.

Hancock told District Court Judge Jane Kauver that she had swerved to avoid moose before the crash and that the vehicle driven by Hunt had at that time crossed over the center line. She told the court ” I really don’t want to go on record saying that I was the cause of that lady’s death. What I want to know is what was Hunt doing in the middle of the road?”

The district judge told Hancock that she thought the sentence was fair. She said to Hancock, ” Yes, it’s long. This was your first DUI and if no one had been hurt or killed, obviously you’d be doing a lot less,” she continued by saying, ” it’s the risk you run, though, when you drive highly intoxicated. There is somebody else in Anchorage who drove with the same blood-alcohol level and someone died–that person is doing 20 years in jail. So, you know, I think that you can look at it all and you need to understand. Your responsibility is to be on that road, under .08, and sober enough to actually be driving a vehicle.”

Buettner said of the sentence handed down, “She got 45 days in jail, which is 15 times more than a typical first offender, but that reflects the fact that she’s a .279, that reflects the fact that she killed somebody in the process,” he said. “Compared to getting a manslaughter sentence it’s a light sentence, but compared to what another typical first DUI offender would get, it’s a very severe sentence.”