Jacqueline Badger Mars, 74, who owns a third of the Mars Inc. candy company, pleaded guilty to charges of misdemeanor reckless driving resulting from a fatal accident in Virginia on October 4,
Reuters reported.
According to the report, a Loudoun County General District Court judge ordered Mars to pay a $2,500 fine and suspended her license for six months. She had faced a potential sentence of a year in jail.
Mars’ SUV crossed into a lane of oncoming traffic and collided with a minivan in Aldie, Va., the article said. Irene Ellisor, 86, a passenger who was not wearing a seatbelt was killed. Ashley Blakeslee, the driver of the minivan, who was eight months’ pregnant, lost the baby. Four other passengers were briefly hospitalized, the Reuters report said. The passengers in the minivan were visiting Virginia from Texas to attend a wedding.
Mars told a witness at the scene that she had fallen asleep at the wheel, the article said, citing prosecutors’ evidence. She was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash.
Mars told the court that she traveled to Texas to visit Blakeslee and express regrets. A statement to the court from Blakeslee’s father said he had forgiven Mars and “did not believe that incarceration for Ms. Mars would result in any added benefit,” the Reuters report said.
Mars retired from her position as food product group president at the company in 2001 and remains a director, the article noted. (Source: Reuters, Dec. 5, 2013.)
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