NY Yankees fan sentenced to 20 years for second-degree murder

Ivonne Hernandez was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison today for for running down 29-year-old Matthew Beaudoin with her car on May 2, 2008. Hernandez was also sentenced to 3 1/2 to 7 years each for second-degree assault and reckless conduct, those sentences to be served simultaneously. The sentence from Judge Robert Lynn was more than sought by defense but less than requested by prosecutors. Friends and family of Hernandez and Beaudoin gathered in a jury assembly room at Hillsborough County Superior Court this morning to hear the sentence. Hernandez, 45, was convicted in December of second-degree murder for running down the 29-year-old Beaudoin with her car on May 2, 2008. Both families were allowed allowed to address the court. The trial took 10 days and the jury deliberated for a few hours before returning guilty verdicts for charges of reckless second-degree murder, two counts of second-degree assault and on one of three counts of reckless conduct. Lynn told Hernandez it was clear to him that she was remorseful but that she hasn’t taken responsibility for Beaudoin’s death. “I’m satisfied, Ms. Hernandez, that you’re not an evil person,” Lynn said. “On the other hand, it’s clear to me you have not accepted full responsibility for this. There’s really no question in my mind about that.” Lynn also said he believes Hernandez was “less-than candid” talking to police and during her testimony during the December trial in an attempt “to minimize your own involvement.” The jury found that Hernandez had driven her 1997 Dodge Intrepid toward Beaudoin and a group of friends in a dirt lot on Elm Street. She struck Beaudoin, killing him, and clipped one of his friends, Maria Hughes. Hernandez maintains that Beaudoin and his friends threatened and harassed her in the city hall parking lot across the street and that she was trying to escape the area and go home. Beaudoin’s group and Hernandez had just left downtown bars when the confrontation began in the city hall lot, initally over a large New York Yankees decal on Hernandez’s back window. After Tuesday’s hearing, Beaudoin’s mother, Susan Beaudoin, said she was pleased with the sentence and hoped it would bring closure to her and her family. Lynn also ruled that Hernandez has to pay the Beaudoins more than $60,000 in medical and funeral expenses, plus almost $10,000 to the state’s victim compensation fund, which helped the Beaudoin’s pay funeral and mental health counseling expenses. She will also receive alcohol and anger management counseling in prison and have to take a victim impact course, according to Lynn’s sentence.

A New Hampshire woman has been convicted of second-degree murder for hitting a man with her car after he taunted her for being a New York Yankees fan. The Nashua Telegraph reports that jurors returned the guilty verdict against 45-year-old Ivonne Hernandez late Monday afternoon, a few hours after hearing closing arguments. She was accused of killing 29-year-old Matthew Beaudoin in a Nashua parking lot in May 2008. Hernandez testified that she was terrified because Beaudoin and others harassed her about the Yankees sticker on her car and pounded on her windows when she made a comment about how many World Series they had won compared with the Boston Red Sox. She denied telling police she was trying to scare Beaudoin and said she didn’t mean to hit him.