Zabrina Marie Burge is led out of the Luzerne County Courthouse after being sentenced to six-to-12 years in state prison on Tuesday. Ed Lewis | Times Leader
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WILKES-BARRE — A woman from Wyoming who admitted to being intoxicated when she crashed head-on into another vehicle killing an elderly couple in 2019 was sentenced in Luzerne County Court Tuesday.
Zabrina Marie Burge, 29, of East Seventh Street, gave an emotional apology to the family of Joseph and Gloria Lyons before Judge Joseph F. Sklarosky Jr. sentenced her to six-to-12 years in state prison.
Jenkins Township police in court records say Burge was operating a 2016 Hyundai Sonata when she crashed head-on with a 2010 Hyundai Sonata on River Road on Oct. 10, 2019.
Joseph, 83, and his wife, Gloria, 80, of Forty Fort, were killed in the crash.
Police said Burge’s alcohol level was in excess of .30 percent. An adult driver in Pennsylvania is considered legally intoxicated with an alcohol level of .08 percent.
Court records say Burge told police she consumed several alcoholic drinks at her place of employment, a restaurant in the Arena Hub Plaza in Wilkes-Barre Township prior to the crash.
Police estimated Burge was traveling at 56 mph when she crashed into the Lyons’ vehicle.
Burge pleaded guilty to two counts of homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence and one count each of aggravated assault by vehicle while DUI and drunken driving on Nov. 16.
Burge previously apologized to the Lyons family during a meeting with Attorney Joseph Cosgrove, who handled a wrongful death civil lawsuit the Lyons estate filed against her and her vehicular insurance company. The civil suit settled out of court for $1.2 million, court records say.
Burge, who was represented by Attorney Joseph M. Nocito, again apologized in court.
“I want you to know walking through those doors (at Cosgove’s law office) was the scariest time of my life because there is no way to express how sorry I am for your family,” Burge said.
Burge said she consumed alcohol to cope with depression and hopes to help others in the future.
Nocito said Burge attended extensive alcohol rehabilitation spending nearly eight months at an in-patient treatment facility.
“It was a tragic episode. I do believe the defendant has been sincere to the victim’s family. But you are here to be held legally accountable,” Sklarosky said adding under state law the mandatory minimum sentence involving a fatal drunken driving crash is three-to-six years.
Sklarosky noted Burge repeatedly asked about the victims while at the hospital following the crash.
Burge was given credit for 234 days time served at the in-patient facility.