NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla., April 4 (UPI) -- A Florida judge has handed a 13-year prison sentence to a woman who killed a 5-year-old triplet when she drove her Jeep into a group of children playing tag.
Betty-Jo Tagerson, 39, said she has been living in her own personal hell since the day in November 2010 when Delaney Rossman was killed in Hudson, the Tampa Bay Times, St. Petersburg, Fla. reported.
"My life will never be the same," Tagerson said before Circuit Judge Michael Andrews pronounced sentence.
Danielle Malm, the mother of the triplet girls, asked Andrews to hand Tagerson the maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.
The judge said he did not impose the maximum sentence because Tagerson had no prior criminal history.
Tagerson was found guilty of vehicular homicide, culpable negligence manslaughter and two counts of reckless driving with serious injury by a six-member jury.
The Florida Highway Patrol's report on the crash said Tagerson had prescribed levels of oxycodone in her system.
