Hershey's sentencing postponed

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Herald-Tribune

FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- Just over two years after the accident, a local resident's sentence for her alleged involvement in the death of her daughter has been continued.

Vanessa Hershey was scheduled to be sentenced Friday afternoon in the Bourbon County District Court after entering a guilty plea to involuntary manslaughter on Nov. 18. The sentencing was postponed due to cases earlier in the day running longer than expected, according to the Bourbon County Clerk's Office.

Hershey was arrested in late May on a Bourbon County warrant for several charges, including involuntary manslaughter while driving, driving while under the influence of alcohol, possession of simulated controlled substances and drug paraphernalia, transporting an open container and racing on highways.

On Dec. 1, 2008, Hershey lost control of the 1998 Toyota passenger car she was driving northbound on the inside lane of U.S. Highway 69 near Shepherd Team Auto Plaza and entered the outside lane. Hershey over-corrected, causing the vehicle to travel across the inside lane of southbound traffic and strike a curb on the vehicle's passenger side. The vehicle then went airborne, rolled several times, coming to rest on 19th Street.

The accident resulted in the death of Hershey's 12-year-old daughter, Monica Hershey. Vanessa suffered unknown injuries during the crash and was eventually transported by helicopter to St. John's Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo. Her son, Jason Hershey, another passenger in the vehicle, was ejected from the vehicle and also injured.

A sentencing date has not been set.

Comments

View 3 comments

Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. Please note that those who post comments on this website may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.

I agree that she needs punishment. I would also guess that whatever the state gives her is nothing compared to what she does to herself everyday with the knowledge that she kill her own child. I would want the death penalty if something I did caused the death of one of my children. I can't think of anything worse I could do.

-- Posted by truthseeker67 on Mon, Dec 20, 2010, at 6:49 PM
So sad.

-- Posted by OldFella on Mon, Dec 20, 2010, at 11:52 PM
So she lives with this every day when she looks at her living children how does she explain, so to compound matters the govermnet steps in to make it even worse. what are they going to do to her that she has not already done to herself. Her punishment should be to go to high schools and talk about driving under the influeance and what the impact has been to her and her family. but know how god fearing and all the people are around here they will probably send her up for 5 years.

-- Posted by endersgame on Wed, Dec 22, 2010, at 8:04 AM

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration:

If you already have an account, follow this link to login
Otherwise, follow this link to register