Despite Elizabeth Jewkes-Danielsen’s lawyer saying the retired schoolteacher had lived “an exemplary life” up until May 10, 2022, when she made several bad decisions, Judge Robert Meadows last week sentenced her to 13.75 years in state prison for her involvement in a deadly car crash on A1A in Indian River Shores.
The sentence for the vehicular homicide of John’s Island resident Christopher Ingraham, who died from impact injuries eight days after the crash, means the Orchid Island resident will spent nearly 10 years longer in prison than the four-year mandatory minimum for her crimes.
Meadows also imposed sentences of 10 years and 5 years respectively for DUI manslaughter and DUI with great bodily harm for causing widow Frances Ingraham’s injuries, but those sentences will be served at the same time as the 13.75 years. Jewkes-Danielsen pleaded guilty to all three counts just days before her case was set to go to trial.
The 63-year-old had been out on bond with a court ankle bracelet since her arrest in January 2023. She had previously gone free from the time of the crash in 2022 to the time of her arrest, while the Florida Highway Patrol completed its lengthy vehicular homicide investigation.
Shockingly, it’s become customary for FHP to let drivers in fatal crashes walk away from the crash scenes with no immediate arrest or charges while the investigation is underway. Local law enforcement defers to FHP’s authority to handle fatal crashes.
After Jewkes-Danielsen sobbed on the stand, and expressed remorse for her crimes and the harm she’d done to the Ingraham family, Assistant State Attorney Bill Long attempted to questioning her about why – if her “heart has been broken” – she waited three years to plead guilty.
Defense attorney Andrew Metcalf objected to the question, saying the answer would infringe upon attorney-client privilege, and Meadows sustained the motion. But Long had made his point.
Clearly guilty, Jewkes-Danielsen did not turn herself in to police when she was released from the hospital shortly after the crash. And she did not plead guilty when finally arrested eight months after the crash.
The most compelling testimony of the sentencing hearing came from Indian River Shores Public Safety Lt. Albert Iovino, a 25-plus-year law enforcement officer with specialized training in traffic homicide investigations.
He explained that Jewkes-Danielsen’s Mercedes coupe’s data recorder revealed that she was driving 93 miles per hour up A1A in a 45 mile per hour zone seconds before slowing to 87 mph one-half second before the crash.
He said she had been using the center turn lane to pass vehicles, weaving in and out of traffic when she crashed into the Ingrahams. He added that the alcohol level in her blood drawn at HCA Lawnwood Hospital showed a .246 blood alcohol level – more than three times the Florida .08 legal limit for impairment.
Photos by Joshua Kodis
