LOS ANGELES – A substance-abuse counselor who drove 2 miles through a Los Angeles suburb with a dying man on her windshield could get 45 years to life in prison.
That's the maximum sentence Sherry Lynn Wilkins faces at her sentencing scheduled for Wednesday.
A jury last month found the 52-year-old Wilkins guilty of second-degree murder, drunken driving and hit-and-run for the incident that killed 31-year-old Phillip Moreno in Torrance in November 2012.
Wilkins also has two previous felony convictions that make her eligible for California's three strikes law.
Prosecutors at trial said Wilkins' blood-alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit. They said that what she did to Moreno "struck at human dignity."
She testified at trial that she was a former addict who was "self-medicating" with alcohol while waiting for knee-replacement surgery.
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