Man Gets 10-Year Term In Easter Drunk Driving Crash That Killed Howell Woman: Prosecutor

FREEHOLD, NJ — A South Jersey man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison in an April 2014 drunk driving crash that killed his girlfriend, a Howell woman, where his blood-alcohol content was nearly three times the legal limit, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced Friday.

Edwin Martinez, 24, of Camden, was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison on a charge of vehicular homicide, along with a three-year concurrent sentence for assault by auto in the crash that killed Tiffany Soto, 26, of Howell, on Easter 2014, said Charles Webster, spokesman for the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office.

Martinez must serve 85 percent of the sentence under the provisions of the "No Early Release Act," Webster said. Martinez has been held at the Monmouth County Correctional Institute since May 2014, meaning he could be released from prison as soon as 2022, if he is credited with the time already served.

Martinez's driver's license has been revoked for five years as well, Webster said.

Martinez pleaded guilty in March to first-degree vehicular homicide in a school zone, third-degree assault by auto, and a motor vehicle summons for driving while intoxicated before Oxley, Webster said. In compliance with the plea agreement, the state dismissed the remaining counts of the indictment that remained against Martinez, he said.

According to the Asbury Park Press report on the guilty plea, Soto was Martinez's girlfriend.

The crash happened shortly after 2 a.m. on April 20, 2014, at the intersection of 8th Avenue and Route 35 in Belmar. According to a Patch report at the time, Soto arrived at Connolly Station, located on 8th Avenue in Belmar, in her Honda Civic to pick up Martinez.

Martinez got into an altercation with two other patrons of Connolly Square after the bar closed, the Patch report said, and smashed the windshield of another car.

Then, instead of getting into the passenger side and allowing Soto to drive, Martinez got in the driver's seat and sped away toward Route 35, authorities said at the time.

Martinez ran the red light at intersection at 8th Avenue and Route 35, hit another motor vehicle with two people in it, and causing the Civic to flip and go airborne into the parking lot at Belmar Marina, authorities said in court, according to the Asbury Park, Press.

Soto was ejected from the car and wound up in the Shark River, authorities said.

First responders pulled Soto out of the river and took her to Jersey Shore University Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead, authorities said.

The driver of the other car, identified at the time of the accident as Brandi Savastino, who was then 30 years old and pregnant, was injured as well, authorities said in court. Her husband, Joseph, then 26, was not injured, authorities said in court.

Martinez was also transported to Jersey Shore University Medical Center to be treated for injuries he sustained. A blood sample taken from him after the crash revealed his blood alcohol concentration was .207 percent, authorities said. The legal limit in New Jersey is .08 percent.

The crash was investigated by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, Monmouth County Serious Collision Analysis Response Team (SCART) and the Belmar Police Department.

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