The Red Hook driver indicted in the hit-and-run deaths of two Bard College students in Tivoli pleaded not guilty to 17 felony counts in Dutchess County Court Wednesday.
Carol Boeck, 63, had been indicted April 11 by a Dutchess County grand jury on multiple counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, vehicular manslaughter, second-degree manslaughter and leaving the scene of an incident, along with two counts of driving while intoxicated. First-year students Sarah McCausland, 19, and Evelina Martin Brown, 20, were killed in the Jan. 31 late-night incident on Route 9G; another student was injured.
After her plea, according to local media reports, Judge Stephen L. Greller set bail at $75,000 cash or $200,000 bond and also stipulated that if she makes bail, she is subject to electronic monitoring; she cannot consume alcohol and she cannot leave Dutchess County.
With her was her attorney, Moshe Horn of New York City, and local reports said two of her daughters watched her being led out in handcuffs.
Boeck posted a $50,000 bond after her initial arraignment Feb. 4 in Village of Tivoli Court.
The two Bard students, along with third, had been walking south on Route 9G at 11:50 pm when they were struck by a southbound car near the Tivoli intersection. McCausland, of Winnetka, Ill., and Brown, of Seattle, Wash., died at the scene; the third student was injured. The driver fled, but was picked up a short time later.
In announcing the indictments April 11, Dutchess County District Attorney William Grady said in a news release, “The most serious counts in the indictment accuse the defendant of operating her vehicle in a reckless manner with blood-alcohol content of 0.23 (percent), which is almost three times the legal limit, and caused the deaths of Sarah McCausland and Evelina Brown.”
If Boeck is convicted on all counts, Grady said, “she faces a maximum state prison sentence of 32 years.”
Boeck was initially charged in Tivoli court with felony DWI because she had been convicted of driving while intoxicated Feb. 1, 2006 in Red Hook. For that, she paid a $500 fine, according to the DA’s news release.
Her next court date was scheduled for June 11.
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