Victim's Mother Blasts Driver In N.J. Fatal Hit-And-Run: 'You Killed My Daughter!'
SOMERVILLE, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A devastated mother lashed out inside a New Jersey courtroom on Friday as the man who killed her daughter in Franklin Township learned his fate.
She said his punishment does not go far enough.
Brian McCauslin, 39, was given the maximum seven-year sentence for killing 23-year-old Tiffany Jantelle. He was also ordered to pay about $13,000 in restitution to the victim's family.
At McCauslin's sentencing hearing, Jantelle's mother, Corrine Nellius, yelled at the man who hit and killed her daughter in June of last year.
"All he said was he hit someone in the road and then Brian left," Nellius said as she turned to McCauslin in court. "That person has a name. It's Tiffany Jantelle. Thank you for looking me in the face. You killed my daughter!"
Jantelle had stopped at around 1 a.m. to help a wounded dog that had been hit by another car moments earlier when she was struck by McCauslin, reported CBS 2's Jessica Schneider.
McCauslin then got out of his car, looked at Jantelle lying in the road, got back in his vehicle and took off, authorities said.
He then drove three hours to his home in Pennsylvania where he was arrested by police several days later and confessed. He also admitted he had been drinking.
"She did not deserve to die with such disrespect," said Nellius. "He fled the scene to save himself from a much more serious crime."
In a plea deal with prosecutors, McCauslin pleaded guilty to careless driving. He was not charged with manslaughter since officials couldn't prove he was drunk at the time of the accident.
Though given the maximum sentence, it's possible McCauslin may only serve six months in jail, after which time he'll be eligible for parole.
"I wanted him to get seven years without being eligible for parole," Nellius said.
Jantelle's family promises they won't stop fighting for justice. They want to push state legislators to enact Tiffany's Law, a measure that would impose harsher penalties for people who leave the scene of a deadly accident, especially if they're suspected of being drunk at the time of the wreck.
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