Bellefonte Woman Gets Up to 17 Years in DUI Homicide Case

LOCK HAVEN – A Bellefonte woman has been sentenced to between 64 months and 17 years after pleading guilty to a number of criminal offenses relating to a fatal January 13, 2017 motor vehicle accident in Beech Creek Township.

Nycole Dawn Meeker was one of the drivers in a two-car crash on Route 150. Some 12 days after the two-vehicle crash, the other driver, Robert “Bob” Rote, 80, of Howard, succumbed to injuries related to the collision in the vicinity of 1440 Eagle Valley Road.

Meeker, 32, appeared Monday before Clinton County President Judge Craig P. Miller for sentencing. She last month had entered guilty pleas to a number of criminal offenses stemming from the fatal accident: one count of homicide by vehicle while DUI, a felony of the second degree; accident involving death or injury while not properly licensed, a felony of the third degree; driving under the influence of controlled substances, an ungraded misdemeanor and driving while suspended, a summary offense.

With members from both the Rote and Meeker families present, Judge Miller imposed his sentence: 50 months to 10 years on the homicide by vehicle while DUI and 14 months to 7 years on the accident involving death or personal injury while not properly licensed for an aggregate of 64 months to 17 years (the statutory maximum) at a state correctional institution.

Meeker appeared before the court in a blue jumpsuit from the Clinton County Correctional facility where she has been incarcerated since her arrest last year. She wept as she read a prepared statement in which he said, “I would do anything to be able to give my life for Mr. Rote.” She called him a wonderful man and apologized to his family for taking him away from them. She said she should have died that day and he should have lived. She said that she deserves whatever punishment the court gives her. After sentencing, she looked to a handful of family members in attendance and blew them a kiss as she was taken away by sheriff deputies.

Meeker was represented by attorney David Lindsay who said his client felt terrible and was extremely remorseful and expressed her sincerest apologies to the Rote family.

Clinton County District Attorney Dave Strouse prosecuted the case and said the Commonwealth had a lot of unanswered questions: Why was a woman without a driver’s license, with no job and no custody rights to her children, and who lives in Centre County, driving through Beech Creek Township that day in January 2017? Why did the family member who owned the car allow her to drive it?

The DA noted Meeker also had been charged with driving under suspension less than a month after the accident along with a speeding offense where she was driving more than 20 miles per hour over the legal limit. During her presentence investigation process, Strouse said, she admitted to ongoing intravenous use of fentanyl. Her license had been suspended since 2011 and she had four convictions for repeatedly driving without a license.

Strouse told the court that the circumstances of the case justified the imposition of the statutory maximums of 8 and a half to 17 years as permitted by law. “Ms. Meeker took the life of a good man who was loved and is greatly missed by his rather large family, many of whom are seated here behind me in the courtroom today. And while the family does not seek vengeance or revenge, what they do desire is to have the defendant removed from society so that she can do no further harm on innocent people.” He said, “Her behavior before and since this terrible tragedy only further warrant a sentence that exceeds the Pennsylvania sentencing guidelines.”