Bayville repeat DWI offender given jail, probation for 2014 crash

The Bayville woman whose 2014 car crash in Berkeley Township left the victim with lingering injuries is handed the maximum sentence for a repeat impaired-driving offender.

Christina M. Guarnieri, 40, was ordered to serve five years' probation for an assault-by-auto count, and 90 days in the Ocean County Jail in Toms River for operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol, acccording to information from the office of County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato.

According to investigators, Guarnieri's blood alcohol content was measured at .40 percent, or five times the New Jersey legal limit, when the collision occurred in the late afternoon of January 31, 2014.

Guarnieri pleaded guilty to assault by auto and DWI on April 6 of this year. It is her third DWI conviction, but the 10 years that elapsed since the last instance permitted her to be sentenced under second-offense guidelines, authorities said.

Her car veered into oncoming traffic on Route 9 at Sylvan Lake Boulevard and crashed into the car occupied by Josephine and Gerry Morey, also of Berkeley Township, authorities said.

Mrs. Morey, a teacher in Neptune Township, sustained a traumatic brain injury, fractured skull, broken thumb, crushed nerves and herniated discs which continue to impact her capabilities, prosecutors said. She told the court that she has availed herself as a guide to discourage drunken driving among students for the past 15 years.

Attorney Steven Hernandez cited Guarnieri's lack of a criminal record in seeking no jail time for his client, and she impressed on the judge the hardship that a sentence would impose on her family, adding that she hadn't contemplated the harm resulting from her conduct, authorities said.