Woman sentenced in fatal crash case

Disappointed relatives of a Springfield woman who was killed in a head-on collision two years ago interrupted Thursday’s sentencing of the woman who hit her to voice displeasure over the plea deal.
http://rutlandherald.com/article/20140725/NEWS02/707259913

Published July 25, 2014 in the Rutland Herald Woman sentenced in fatal crash case By ERIC FRANCIS CORRESPONDENT WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Disappointed relatives of a Springfield woman who was killed in a head-on collision two years ago interrupted Thursday’s sentencing of the woman who hit her to voice displeasure over the plea deal. Ling Wang, 51, of Springfield, was sentenced to immediately begin serving the 30-day unsuspended portion of an overall 3-to-12 month sentence that followed her guilty plea to misdemeanor negligent operation in connection with the crash that killed 47-year-old Nicki Farren of Springfield on Feb. 23, 2012. Wang had originally been charged with a felony count of gross negligent operation with a fatality resulting but, as Windsor County State’s Attorney Michael Kainen and Judge Karen Carroll explained during Thursday’s proceedings, one of the “elements” of that charge that would have to be proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt was that Wang knew, or should have known, that what she was doing when she sped across the center line at 25 mph faster than the speed limit, was in fact dangerous and illegal. In the months since her arrest a great deal of medical records detailing what was a bizarre “psychotic disorder” that Wang suffers from came to light and eventually the defense, the prosecution and the court were persuaded by a forensics psychiatrist’s examinations of Wang that found she was insane at the time of the accident, suffering from a paranoia-like belief that she was on the brink of dying from a heart condition and/or diabetes, when in fact, doctors said, it was clear to medical personnel who examined her over and over again at her request that she was perfectly healthy. Kainen said in the weeks before the accident, Wang “had seen 40 physicians at 20 hospitals in three states” and consulted specialists as far away as Chicago trying to convince them to treat her for chest pains and blood-sugar disorders that test after test showed she simply did not have. Reading from notes made by various emergency room doctors in their reports on her visits, Kainen said on the day before the crash, Wang asked one doctor “no fewer than five times for a full-body CAT scan” in an effort to back up her phantom symptoms and later that same day was at a different Vermont hospital “begging for (heart) medications” only to drive down to Boston’s Brigham & Women’s Hospital later that night where she was “very insistent” that she needed immediate intervention for “heart failure” even though doctor’s screening her couldn’t find anything wrong. The next day, Wang was back at Rutland Regional Medical Center “demanding a full body scan” and complaining that she was “dying of a heart attack,” Kainen said. That evening, after eating a light dinner at a restaurant, and despite a hospital test that had showed her blood-sugar levels to be within the normal range, Wang injected herself with insulin “in the delusional belief” that she needed to do something, Kainen said. The extra insulin would have thrown her into an actual hypoglycemic medical emergency and made it very difficult for her to think and react as she drove the rest of the way home, Kainen said, adding that a state police examination of the “black box” electronics in the airbag system of Wang’s car showed that she did not slow down or brake at all in the moments after she crossed the center line into the path of Farren’s on-coming car, and she only eased off the accelerator four-tenths of a second before impact. “Clearly, if someone did this in their right mind, it would be a felony,” Kainen said but he said experts reviewing Wang’s case had determined “to a reasonable degree of medical certainty” that her delusional disorder had caused her to act the way she did in the days and hours leading up to the accident. “Her mental illness would have impaired her ability to appreciate the nature and potential criminality of her actions ... and would have overwhelmed (Wang’s) ability to weigh other courses of action.” Kainen said the state was especially persuaded by medical records which showed Wang exhibiting symptoms of her unfounded belief that she was clinging to life by a thread well before the crash. “This is somebody who had a long-standing disorder, not somebody who came up with one after an accident,” he said. Wang’s defense attorney, Brian Marsicovetere, echoed that when it was his turn to speak, telling the court, “This is a severe disorder. This is not a smoke screen.” Referring to Wang’s past in China where she earned a master’s degree and taught at a university before she met her husband while he was working overseas and then married and moved to Vermont, Marsicovetere said: “Here we have a previously high-functioning individual who suffered a mental failure that led to this tragedy ... the goal here should be to continue the recovery she has already begun.” Carroll had to tell family members on more than one occasion that, aside from the victim’s impact statements, that they could not stand and comment during the other portions of the sentencing. Carroll began her remarks by expressing sympathy for the family and thanking them for turning out “to show your support.” “The facts are not in dispute here,” she said. “At the time, Ms. Wang was an extremely mentally ill person. There is no dispute about that.” Carroll said Wang’s medical records are so detailed and compelling that it would have been likely that had Wang gone to trial, a jury “would have significant issues” and likely could have found her innocent by reason of insanity which, under such an outcome, would have meant she walked out with no punishment of any kind as a result, the judge said. By accepting responsibility and pleading to the misdemeanor charge, Carroll said, Wang had voluntarily exposed herself to the consequences of the justice system. Carroll said although medical confidentiality issues are involved, Wang is the subject of a separate “nonhospitalization” mental health proceeding that will likely put her under the supervision of not only the Probation Department because of her criminal conviction but also the Department of Mental Health. Both entities will likely prevent her from ever obtaining a driver’s license again unless or until she were able to prove she had been cured of her underlying psychiatric issues. “This is a complicated case,” Carroll said, adding, “This is a person with her own set of circumstances and factors.”