Former Bishop Heather Cook Released Early After Deadly DUI Crash

JESSUP, MD — Disgraced former bishop Heather Cook was released from prison Tuesday after serving more than three years of her seven-year sentence. She will be on probation until 2024.

Cook, 62, had been incarcerated at the Maryland Correctional Institute for Women in Jessup.

The defrocked bishop was imprisoned after she killed a man while driving drunk and texting, and left the scene.

Thomas Palermo, 41, was cycling in a bike lane on Roland Avenue on Dec. 27, 2014, when Cook hit him.

Prosecutors said that Cook registered a 0.22 blood alcohol level on a breathalyzer. The legal blood alcohol limit is 0.08 in Maryland.

Cook pleaded guilty and was sentenced to jail in October 2015 for manslaughter, DUI, leaving the scene of an accident and texting while driving. She was given a 10-year sentence with five years suspended for manslaughter and a 10-year sentence with eight years suspended for traffic violations including leaving the scene.

Palermo is survived by his wife and two children. The widow's sister told The Baltimore Sun she is "choosing to focus on her family and friends" in the aftermath of the defrocked bishop's release.

Cook was released early because she had earned credits for good behavior, including working in the prison's mail room, holding recovery meetings for those suffering from addiction and organizing recovery summits at the prison, The Baltimore Sun reported.

For the next five years, Cook will be on probation, according to the terms of her sentence.

It was not the first DUI for Cook. In 2010, she was charged with multiple offenses including possession of marijuana and DUI, for which she received probation before judgment and a $300 fine. Police in Caroline County brought those charges after an officer pulled Cook over on a traffic stop; there was no crash or injury involved.

Cook was denied her request to be released on parole in May 2017 and was also denied when she requested to have her sentence modified in 2018.

She described the living conditions as "bleak and cold" and while incarcerated, she got married in 2017 to her partner, a fellow recovering alcoholic who lives on the Eastern Shore, Religion News Service reported. They met while in the seminary.

Cook, who was the first female bishop in Maryland, was elected the second highest-ranking official in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland in May 2014.

After she was charged and the case appeared to be headed for trial, Cook resigned on May 1, 2015.

Now that she has been released, Cook reportedly said she was not sure what her next steps would be, but said she had faith that "God doesn't waste anything."

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