The preliminary hearing for Shelly Wentworth, the woman charged in the drunken-driving death of AU student Andrew Burr, was granted a continuance Friday, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for D.C.
The hearing was delayed by the D.C. Superior Court due to the defense attorney being out of town and is now scheduled for March 5, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney.
Wentworth, 22, is charged with involuntary manslaughter and driving while intoxicated for the Jan. 18 accident at the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue and Edmunds Street, NW. The accident occurred at approximately 9:30 p.m. when Wentworth's Subaru Outback struck a Buick Riviera carrying Burr and four other AU students, which was stopped at a red light, Police said.
The Metropolitan Police Department reported that Wentworth had a blood-alcohol level of .13, which is .05 above the legal limit. At a hearing on Jan. 19, Wentworth was charged and later released on bond under certain restrictions. Those restrictions included weekly alcohol testing, a nightly curfew, alcohol counseling and a ban on drinking and driving.
Prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's Office charged that Wentworth made no attempt to touch the brake, and caused the accident, The Washington Post reported. Burr, who was sitting in the back seat of the Buick, was thrown through the windshield by the impact, according to the Georgetown Voice.
Three of the passengers in the Buick were released from area hospitals with minor injuries on the night of the accident. A fourth student, Kyle Bastanchury, 24, was released Monday after being in serious but stable condition.
Burr, 20, was a junior international student from England in the College of Arts and Sciences, said Gail Hanson, AU vice president of Campus Life.
Wentworth, a recent graduate of Georgetown University, works at Clyde's in Georgetown. She is a 1998 graduate of Barnstable High School in Centerville, Mass., and was an All-American with the Georgetown sailing team in 2003, according to the Hoyas' Web site.
Wentworth faces a maximum 30 years in prison for manslaughter, according to D.C. Statute 22-2105, and suspension of her driver's license for six months for driving while intoxicated, according to FindLaw.com.
