A Binghamton woman’s challenge of her prison sentence for injuring a college student while driving drunk was rejected by a state appeals court in Albany. 45-year-old Patricia Crowe is serving a sentence of two to seven years in state prison after she pleaded guilty in Broome County Court to felony vehicular assault and misdemeanor aggravated driving while intoxicated. Crowe admitted back in 2011 to hitting a 21-year-old woman walking on a crosswalk on Clinton Street. At the time of the incident, Crowe had a blood-alcohol content of .22 percent, nearly three times the legal limit. Crowe appeared in court to argue that her sentencing was too severe and should be reduced, but the appellate court stated it saw no reason to alter the sentence handed down in Broome County. The victim in the incident, a college student, suffered serious hip and facial injuries, which required multiple surgeries, and was forced to drop out of college. At the time of Crowe’s original sentencing in 2012, Judge Martin Smith said the sentence should send a message to the community. Crowe is expected to have a parole hearing in January and could be released in August of next year.
