Drunk Driver gets 3-9 years in fatal crash. Was it enough?

Drunk driver gets 3-9 years in fatal crash

By REBECCA BAKER
THE JOURNAL NEWS


(Original publication: December 8, 2007)
Family members of an Ossining father killed last year by an intoxicated woman on the Sprain Brook Parkway applauded after a judge sentenced her to three to nine years in state prison yesterday.


The driver, 46-year-old Lisa Shipp, offered no excuses to the family of Legista "Leggie" Beckford and said she took full responsibility for her actions Oct. 12, 2006.


"I have been living with unspeakable shame, guilt and self-directed anger for the past 14 months," she said in a statement read by her lawyer, Murray Richman. "I will be haunted to the end of my days."


Shipp, of the Bronx, rear-ended Beckford's Dodge Durango as they were driving north on the Sprain Brook near Tuckahoe Road.


Beckford lost control of his vehicle, careened across three lanes of traffic, plummeted down a 25-foot incline and crashed into a tree. The 33-year-old was killed on impact.


A driver who saw the accident followed Shipp's 2005 Ford Mustang for miles after she turned off the Sprain and called police in Greenburgh, who arrested her. Police said they found an open vodka bottle in the car, and tests showed her blood-alcohol level at 0.24 - three times the legal limit. She also was taking prescription drugs at the time.


Shipp stared impassively in the courtroom in White Plains as Sophronia Beckford, the victim's widow, called her a murderer who ended her marriage and left Beckford's three sons, ages 11, 9, and 4, without a father.


"A life sentence would be a slap on the wrist, in my book," she told Shipp. "Death would be a slap on the wrist."


Assistant District Attorney Julia Cornachio, who prosecuted the case, read statements from Beckford's two oldest sons saying how much they missed their father. Sophronia Beckford brought an enlarged photo of her husband and pictures of her sons, saying she wanted Shipp to see those whose lives she had damaged.


Leggie Beckford was a track and football star at Ossining High School and a defensive back at the University of Massachusetts. He worked as a billing supervisor with Empress Ambulance in Yonkers.


He was driving home after work when the accident happened. About 300 mourners attended his funeral in Ossining.


Shipp had pleaded guilty to a 12-count indictment to avoid a maximum prison sentence of five to 15 years. The charges included second-degree manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, driving while intoxicated, driving under the influence of drugs and several traffic violations.


Westchester County Judge Robert DiBella sentenced Shipp under the terms of the plea. As Shipp was handcuffed and led out of the packed courtroom, several members of Beckford's family clapped.


After the sentencing, Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore said Shipp's reckless behavior on the road during the evening rush hour could have caused even more tragedy.


"Society will not tolerate this type of conduct, nor will the criminal justice system," she said in a statement.


Reach Rebecca Baker at rebaker@lohud.com or 914-694-5064.