Shiprock woman awaits sentencing after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter
A Shiprock woman faces up to eight years in prison after pleading guilty in federal court to involuntary manslaughter in connection with a fatal car crash last year.
Courtney Frank, 19, a member of the Navajo Nation, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter charge after acknowledging responsibility in court and in a plea agreement that she was fully responsible for an incident in which she drove her car over the center line of Mesa Farm Road in Shiprock on Sept. 28, 2022, and collided head on with another vehicle, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico.
The driver of the other vehicle, a woman, was killed in the crash. Court documents state Frank was intoxicated at the time of the incident.
Frank remains on conditions of release, which require her to wear an alcohol-monitoring bracelet, until her sentencing hearing, which has not been scheduled. She faces three years of supervised release upon completion of her sentence.
The case was investigated by the Farmington agency of the FBI with assistance from the Navajo Nation Police Department and New Mexico State Police.
This article originally appeared on Farmington Daily Times: Shiprock's Courtney Frank pleads guilty to involuntary manslaughter
