NJ Teen Who Fatally Struck Man While High To Be Resentenced: Reports

MARLBORO, NJ - A Marlboro woman previously sentenced to four years in state prison after fatally hitting a pedestrian while high is set to be resentenced due to apparent errors in how the term was decided, according to reports.

Amy Amkhanitsky, now 20, struck 69-year-old Richard Lockwood III on Route 34 near Triangle Drive in Old Bridge on Feb. 5, 2020. Amkhanitsky was charged with first-degree manslaughter, reckless vehicular homicide and aggravated assault following a blood test revealing marijuana in her system, the Asbury Park Press reported.

She was sentenced in Middlesex County Superior Court earlier this month, but an appellate court said Tuesday that Middlesex County Superior Court Judge Benjamin Bucca didn’t fully weigh the aggravating and mitigating factors that determined the sentencing of the Monmouth County woman, a panel of appeals judges said, per NJ.com.

The resentencing will take place within 30 days and involve a different judge, APP added.

Previous coverage: Morganville Woman, 19, Killed Man While Driving High: Prosecutor

Amkhanitsky was first sentenced in August 2021, with the judge applying one aggravating factor: the need to prevent the Marlboro woman and others from breaking the law, Per NJ.com. Amkhanitsky, however, cited multiple mitigating factors, including her not having a prior record, her unlikeliness to offend again and her age – she was just 17 at the time of the crash.

Her lawyer asked the judge to reconsider, and another sentencing took place in October 2021 where Amhanitsky explained her academic pressures, mental health struggles (including suffering from PTSD) and Soviet Union refugee family history, NJ.com reported.

The judge refuted that the comments were “all about her” and did not change her four-year sentence. A February 2022 sentencing at the appellate level also did not change the sentence length, APP said.

But Tuesday’s proceedings vacated the sentence and ordered a new hearing, finding an “abuse of discretion” from the previous judge that was not supported by “competent and credible evidence in record,” NJ.com reported.

Earlier discrepancies, such as a press release from the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office reporting that Lockwood was struck by a hit-and-run driver, were also found, the panel said, according to NJ.com.

“Although we acknowledge that sentencing requires a qualitative assessment of aggravating and mitigating factors, it is difficult to comprehend how an objective analysis ... could result in the same sentence three times, and by way of different combinations of the sentencing factors,” the panel wrote, per the publication.