DENVER – An appeals court has ordered a new trial for a Denver woman convicted in a 2009 drunken-driving crash that killed two Connecticut librarians.
The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled Thursday the trial judge should have asked jurors whether they saw news reports during the trial about defendant Sandra Jacobson's previous convictions, including one for drunken driving.
The appeals court said the information was potentially prejudicial and the judge should have queried the jurors.
Seventy-one-year-old Kate McClelland and 54-year-old Kathleen Krasniewicz were killed when they were taking a taxi to the Denver airport to go home after a convention.
Jacobson's vehicle collided with the taxi. She was convicted of vehicular homicide and driving under the influence and sentenced to 36 years in prison.
No new trial date has been set.
