Victim's husband screams as 'Melrose Place' actress is sentenced
SOMERVILLE, N.J. (AP) - A former "Melrose Place" actress who was drunk when her SUV plowed into a car and killed a woman was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison, infuriating the victim's relatives, who had hoped for the 10-year maximum.
"What a travesty!" the victim's husband, Fred Seeman, yelled after the sentence was read.
"This is not justice," the victim's 26-year-old son, Ford Seeman, told the judge before he stormed out of the courtroom.
A jury in November convicted Amy Locane-Bovenizer of vehicular homicide in the 2010 death of 60-year-old Helene Seeman in Montgomery Township.
Locane-Bovenizer will be eligible for parole after 2 1/2 years and will be credited the 81 days she has already served. She also had her license suspended for five years and will be on probation for three years after her release. She must pay several thousand dollars in fines.
Locane-Bovenizer, who didn't testify at the trial, appeared in 13 episodes of TV's "Melrose Place" and in movies including "Cry-Baby," ''School Ties" and "Secretary."
Prosecutors say she was driving with a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit when her SUV slammed into a Mercury Milan driven by Fred Seeman as he was turning into his driveway. Fred Seeman's wife, Helene, was killed, and he was seriously injured.
During the trial, the defense argued that Fred Seeman was making a slow turn, which contributed to the crash. They maintained that it was an accident, not a crime.
The defense also shifted blame to a third motorist who they say distracted the actress by honking at her and chasing her after being rear-ended. They said the chase led Locane-Bovenizer to drive 20 miles over the speed limit on a dark two-lane road.
The judge lowered the maximum sentence citing the hardship on Locane-Bovenizer's two young children. One has a serious medical and mental disability. The defense went into detail about how her sick child was deteriorating physically and psychologically since the actress' incarceration and about how a prolonged sentence would make it worse.
"I'm just glad her little girls will have their mother back soon," Locane-Bovenizer's mother, Helen Locane, said as she walked out of the courtroom.
In an emotionally charged statement, Fred Seeman told the court that the defense contention that his vehicle was turning slowly added "salt on the wound," and he said he was appalled that Locane-Bovenizer took no responsibility for killing his wife.
The actress, in turn, apologized to Seeman's family and said she did take full responsibility.
"I am truly sorry for all of the pain I have caused," she said, struggling to get through her statement, as she looked toward the family that packed one side of the courtroom while her friends and family packed the other. "My own suffering will never go away."
Judge Robert Reed said that he had no sympathy for the actress but that the children should not suffer even more because of her actions.
The Seeman family said after the sentencing that the decision was a "mockery" and only added to the suffering they've endured since the accident.
"What's one more punch in the gut?" Ford Seeman said.
"What a travesty!" the victim's husband, Fred Seeman, yelled after the sentence was read.
"This is not justice," the victim's 26-year-old son, Ford Seeman, told the judge before he stormed out of the courtroom.
A jury in November convicted Amy Locane-Bovenizer of vehicular homicide in the 2010 death of 60-year-old Helene Seeman in Montgomery Township.
Locane-Bovenizer will be eligible for parole after 2 1/2 years and will be credited the 81 days she has already served. She also had her license suspended for five years and will be on probation for three years after her release. She must pay several thousand dollars in fines.
Locane-Bovenizer, who didn't testify at the trial, appeared in 13 episodes of TV's "Melrose Place" and in movies including "Cry-Baby," ''School Ties" and "Secretary."
Prosecutors say she was driving with a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit when her SUV slammed into a Mercury Milan driven by Fred Seeman as he was turning into his driveway. Fred Seeman's wife, Helene, was killed, and he was seriously injured.
During the trial, the defense argued that Fred Seeman was making a slow turn, which contributed to the crash. They maintained that it was an accident, not a crime.
The defense also shifted blame to a third motorist who they say distracted the actress by honking at her and chasing her after being rear-ended. They said the chase led Locane-Bovenizer to drive 20 miles over the speed limit on a dark two-lane road.
The judge lowered the maximum sentence citing the hardship on Locane-Bovenizer's two young children. One has a serious medical and mental disability. The defense went into detail about how her sick child was deteriorating physically and psychologically since the actress' incarceration and about how a prolonged sentence would make it worse.
"I'm just glad her little girls will have their mother back soon," Locane-Bovenizer's mother, Helen Locane, said as she walked out of the courtroom.
In an emotionally charged statement, Fred Seeman told the court that the defense contention that his vehicle was turning slowly added "salt on the wound," and he said he was appalled that Locane-Bovenizer took no responsibility for killing his wife.
The actress, in turn, apologized to Seeman's family and said she did take full responsibility.
"I am truly sorry for all of the pain I have caused," she said, struggling to get through her statement, as she looked toward the family that packed one side of the courtroom while her friends and family packed the other. "My own suffering will never go away."
Judge Robert Reed said that he had no sympathy for the actress but that the children should not suffer even more because of her actions.
The Seeman family said after the sentencing that the decision was a "mockery" and only added to the suffering they've endured since the accident.
"What's one more punch in the gut?" Ford Seeman said.
DUI- your car gets crushed with you in it. That's justice.
Damn Locane-Bovenizer and Damn Judge Reed. What were they both thinking. There is no justice!
Celebrities are special. They are not subject to the same laws as the common rabble. After all, they are an important part of the royalty in America, where the lowly pray to them five times a day.
"Sympathy" for the murderous acting criminal here - got her sentenced lowered to almost nothing? Come on, judge. Come on...
No justice for the murder victim - at all. HER reality is demeaned and dumbed down by this sentencing judge. A judge that seems completely indifferent to what occurred when this train wreck of a criminal, Locane-Bovenizer , chose to tank up three times the legal limit on a known intoxicating substance and then go out and KILL someone. Knowingly. Intentionally.Â
You bet this sentence is infuriating. Until and if all MURDERERS behind the wheel are treated seriously there will continue to be insipidly ridiculous sentencing proceeding just like this - all across this nation - where a MURDERER gets little to no time at all - for cruelly and deliberately MURDERING a completely innocent human being.Â
This is INJUSTICE on full public display.Â
Lower the speed limit to 5 mph and save lives
How is can she be convicted of drinking & driving + murder and still be deemed safe to keep her kids? This is just the first time she's been caught drinking & driving...not the first time she's done it. How many times have her kids been in the car with her? Could the disabled child's disability be related to fetal alcohol syndrome and the mothers drinking? Ugly questions...but WHY are we being soft on this woman?
@honorbound She is a murderer. Who intentionally tanked up on a intoxicant - and intentionally got behind the wheel of a death machine. And you bet this is not the first time she made that choice.Â
And yet - somehow - her kids need her  - there is one excuse of another by this sentencing judge to release her as soon as he could - and voila - she is out and about faster than a person who writes bad checks can be processed.Â
THIS is about as bad as our criminal justice can get. And cruel.Â
Murder victim Mrs. Seeman - YOUR life and that fact your life was criminally taken from you - don't matter.Â
they will get her in the civil suit.
@mstercor --- we can only hope.
so, to be clear, one can have a reduced sentence for murder, as that's what she did here, cause she's got children the judge did not want to have affected by her potential and well deserved long prison term? Â I gots to get me some kids!
What a bunch of moronic excuses the defense came up with. The only fact that matters is that the perpetrator was DRIVING DRUNK and killed an innocent person.
booze rocks~!
@Ken Ling ~ Only when it's NOT combined with driving..!
"I'm just glad her little girls will have their mother back soon," Locane-Bovenizer's mother, Helen Locane, said as she walked out of the courtroom.
And Helene Seeman's children will NEVER get to see their mother again.  Yeah, that's fair.
@negativerep --- I would be surprised this would be the last the legal system will see of her.
@negativerep ~ For sure... and how terrible that in our "justice system" these days, the "rights" of the criminals so far outweigh the rights of the victims... AND (even more frightening) the safety of the public after these people are released from prison..!   Our whole system has turned up-side down... Â
They use the medical crap all the time. My relative who has 7 DUI's got of easy last time claiming medical hardship. When are the idiot judges going to stop falling for that crap.
When is this country going to get serious about drunk driving? Instead of worrying about raising the fines for cell phone use I wish they would do more about DUI.
@ormom I couldn't agree more. We debate about gun control daily but hardly every blink when someone drinks too much, gets behind the wheel of something weighing more than a 2,000 lbs and kills someone. Drunks are FAR more lethal and destructive thank guns in my opinion. Drive drunk, get pulled over...go to prison for 12 months on the 1st offense....instead of a little DUI slap and some attorney's fees.
@ormom It's refreshing to see you commenting against something killing other then guns and something that destroys many more lives! Sadly the system seems to feel for the guilty more then the victims. My 7 time DUI relative has never had any real harsh penalties that would stop him from doing it again.
@FreedomRocks Â
Thanks. My views on guns and DUI and many other dangers are based more on statistical risk than emotion. That's why I don't consider my views on the dangers of owning a gun to be unreasonable. I have said numerous times that 'your' risk or your family's risk of being killed by your own gun in your own home is far higher than the risk from any stranger. Too few people, imo, will consider that before they bring them into the home for their 'safety'. It's often an emotional and even irrational decision made by people who let fear control some aspects of their lives. It's like the person who refuses to fly because it's too dangerous but happily drives a hundred miles a day for work. If they considered the statistics instead of their emotions they'd throw their cars keys away and take a plane.
@FreedomRocks Â
1) I happen to care about what happens to other people, even when it's about their own bad choices.
2) It affects all of us when you have idiots like the woman in Bend at the Mc Donalds who endangered the life of everyone in the place. More guns, more idiots, more risk. Simple statistics. And when you take your idiocy into public it becomes my business.
@ormom@FreedomRocksI error on the side of people making their own life choices and living with the consequences good or bad regardless of how severe those consequences may be.
Once you allow the government or do gooders like you to decide what is best for other people then you give up the freedoms that everyone came to this country for.
What next...I see over weight parents with obese kids are you next going to point to statistics showing how harmful it is to the parents and even worse for kids and take away their right to buy potato chips or maybe take away their kids.
Where do you draw the lines once you let the government and others start telling people how you should live and what you should own supposedly for your own good....
Certainly not the nanny state I want to live in or the one so many soldiers have died to protect...
@ormom I agree, but I think both issues need to be addressed with stronger fines. But here's the other thing, in high school my friend reached over to change the radio station, drove off the road and killed one of his passangers. Anything can b a distraction when driving. People need to use common sense.
What is the minimum speed limit for pulling into your own driveway? Too slow?  Ridiculous!
She should have her children taken away from her if she is driving drunk and convicted of killing someone too. What if she decided to drive with one of those kids in the car with her once she gets out of jail? It's not like the judge can take it back then. Â
I really feel bad for the family of the victim.Â
@Justanother1 No kidding! Has anyone asked if the disabled child's disability is related to fetal alcohol syndrome and the mother's drinking? This is just the first time she's been caught drinking & driving...not the first time she's done it.
No kidding, that POS defense attorney ought to be ashamed of even saying that. If I was the husband I would have been held in contempt of court because I would have told her F/U, I am G/D sorry I cannot take the corner going into my driveway doing 30 miles an hour, but that is still no reason for your client to murder my wife!!!!.
Three times! THREE TIMES the legal limit of alcohol. That's .24% She should be ashamed of herself for even drinking herself into such a state - then driving. She has zero shame. And her lawyers have zero consciences.Â
I really feel for the Seeman Family. That judge must have been paid off.Â
I hate it when criminals hide behind their children to avoid accountability for their crimes. I see this all the time in court, and it truly makes me sick when a judge falls for it. That said, I'd bet a male defendant wouldn't have had such a dramatic reduction in sentence if he claimed hardship on his children. Judges are suckers for a pretty face. This case really is a travesty. My condolences to Fred Seeman and his family.
@StealthActivist I agree.  If this defendant had been the victim of someone's negligence for hitting her child, the table would be turned for sure.  But take a look at the man who hit the girl in downtown Portland, killing her.  He's currently out on $5,000 bail.  It has to do with the law, but the reasoning that goes behind making those laws needs to be reviewed.
Being intoxicated should not be an excuse to wreak mayhem on the roads and get away with it.
"During the trial, the defense argued that Fred Seeman was making a slow turn, which contributed to the crash."
"The defense also shifted blame to a third motorist who they say distracted the actress by honking at her and chasing her after being rear-ended. They said the chase led Locane-Bovenizer to drive 20 miles over the speed limit on a dark two-lane road." Â (from the story)
Boy, those have GOT to be the most off-the-wall "defenses" I ever heard for driving drunk..! Â
Insofar as Ms Locane-Bovenizer's kids are concerned, perhaps she should have thought of her kids BEFORE she decided to get drunk and then drive...Â
@margay1Â Right! Blaming the victim for the accident, and not taking responsibility for the drunken stupor she was in in the first place! She had the money to pay for the jerks who got a lighter sentence for this "actress". She really played her part. If she had a child with "a serious medical and mental disability", why did she put herself in the position of being so drunk and driving in the first place? She could afford a cab.Â
This is why Hollywood and their "celebrities" really stink at times.Â
@washcomom @margay1 Not just the victim, some unknown third party caused her to be speeding because she was fleeing a hit and run. It was probably the bartender's fault she was drunk.
Obviously the real victim here was the innocent drunk driver, victimized by everyone else.Â
Talk about celebrities being a special, protected class. Â Sheesh.
It's amazing that defense attorneys can sleep at night.
@2012 Hope and ChangeÂ
Like SMaoug, on a giant pile of money.Â
and people wonder why the guy in texas decided to end the life of a drunk driver who killed his children...
@Ignorance2012
Yeah and he will serve 10-25. Some from being in Texas, and some because drunk driving and killing two people is manslaughter, and shooting one drunk who killed two people is murder.Â
Why killing someone with a car is less of a crime than with any other tool is beyond me.
@Repoman @Ignorance2012 Bingo...this is a great reflection of how warped and distorted our legal system can be sometimes.
@Repoman @Ignorance2012 the last I read on it they still haven't found the weapon used and there were no actual witnesses. The way I see it is, if he keeps his mouth shut it's going to be next to impossible to find 12 people to convict him.
 To me it seems like a good percentage of Americans hate drunk drivers. I myself consider vehicular homicide to be murder and not manslaughter. If a person can't take responsibility for their actions when they are drunk then they shouldn't be drinking in the first place.Â
@Repoman @Ignorance2012 Liberals hate guns.
That's why you can be a known predator in Portland and be released 7 times since May, and why an LA celebrity only gets three years, but a decorated veteran who had an AR-15 magazine in his trunk got arrested in January in New York and charged with two crimes.
In liberal America they'll let out a guy who murdered his grandmother with a hammer and then scream for gun control when he illegally acquires guns and uses them to kill firefighters.
It wasn't the laws, it wasn't the courts, it wasn't the people who released him, it was all of us redneck terrorist NRA gunfreaks whut dunnit.