Motorist Faces 8 Years for Causing Fatal Bernards Twp. Crash

A Warren woman pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in Superior Court on Tuesday after authorities said she was drunk when she crashed her car head-on into another in Bernards Township in January, killing the other driver.

Lori Ann Weiss, 45, pleaded guilty to second-degree vehicular homicide and third-degree assault by auto per a negotiated plea agreement with the state.

In return, the state will recommend Weiss be sentenced to five years in prison on the vehicular homicide charge and an additional three years in prison on the assault by auto charge, according to Somerset County Prosecutor Geoffrey Soriano. She would be forced to serve 85 percent in prison as per the No Early Release Act.

Weiss' blood alcohol concentration was twice the legal limit, and she was found to have an open container of alcohol in her car at the time of the crash, according to Soriano.

She turned herself in to police and was taken to the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital the night of the crash for toxicology testing.

Peter Calvelli, a 49-year-old man from Bridgewater, died before a Medevac helicopter could arrive on the scene on Jan. 17 after being extricated from his car. His 25-year-old daughter, Rachel, who was a passenger in the car, was transported to Morristown Medical Center with injuries. She remained hospitalized for several weeks, Soriano said.

Weiss was also hospitalized for a brief time for injuries sustained in the crash.

In addition to Weiss' guilty pleas Tuesday in Superior Court, Soriano said she also pleaded guilty to several motor vehicle violations —including DWI in a school zone, reckless driving and driving with an open container of alcohol— in Bernards Township Municipal Court, as well as a careless driving motor vehicle charge in Warren Township Municipal Court.

Weiss is currently free on bail, her license suspended, until her sentencing.