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September 19, 2023
Ashley Beams, 32, of Toms River
According to a judgment announced on Monday by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, a Toms River woman whose blood alcohol level was four times the legal limit in a 2022 collision that killed a Middlesex County man will serve prison time and have her license suspended.
As part of her guilty plea to vehicular homicide in the death of James Cruz, 62, of the Parlin neighborhood of Old Bridge Township, Ashley L. Beams, 32, was sentenced to five years in prison by Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan on Friday, according to Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer.
The No Early Release Act requires Beams, who pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide on July 24, to complete 85% of her sentence before being eligible for parole.
Billhimer said that Ryan revoked Beams' driving privileges for a year after she entered a guilty plea to the motor vehicle offence of driving while intoxicated on Friday.
Authorities reported that Cruz was declared deceased at the scene.
According to authorities, Beams was hurt and sent to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune for treatment. Blood was also obtained from her to help with the crash investigation.
According to the probable cause affidavit, an analysis revealed that she had a blood alcohol level of.321%, which is four times the 0.08 percent threshold that New Jersey considers to be the legal limit for intoxication.
A Long Island iced tea and three shots of vodka were consumed by Beams while she waited for her order at TGI Friday's, it was discovered by investigators. The affidavit states that she left her house at 9:45 p.m. and struck Cruz 41 minutes later, at 10:26 p.m.
Detectives from the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office Vehicular Homicide Unit detained Beams on February 16, 2022, at her residence. She was transferred to the Ocean County Jail, where she was held until New Jersey Bail Reform allowed her release. In April 2023, she was charged.
