A state appellate court has upheld the conviction of a northern New Jersey man who was driving drunk when he struck and killed two teenage cousins seven years ago.
But the panel said Eugene Baum should be resentenced because the trial judge erred in counting essential elements of the crime as an “aggravating factor.”
The 51-year-old Dover man was ordered to serve consecutive 20-year state prison terms after being convicted of aggravated manslaughter and death by auto in the April 2006 crash in Kinnelon.
Sixteen-year-old Athear Jafar and her 15-year-old cousin, Mayada, were walking home from the movies at dusk on a paved road shoulder when Baum's vehicle struck them from behind.
His blood-alcohol content was estimated at .34 percent, more than four times the legal limit.
DWI Conviction Upheld for Man Who Killed Girls
Copyright AP - Associated Press
