Driver charged in death of South Walton teen pleads no contest
DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — The 18-year-old girl charged in the 2009 crash that killed 16-year-old Meghan Burkhart-Smith has pleaded no contest to the charges, according to court records.
Elyse Tirico, formerly Elyse Bushee, will be sentenced April 6 for DUI manslaughter and DUI with serious bodily injury.
According to Assistant State Attorney Angela Mason, who is prosecuting the case, Tirico asked the court last week to treat her as a youthful offender rather than as an adult.
“The court will hear from the victim, Ms. Smith’s, family and from the defendant’s family,” Mason said of the sentencing hearing. “Then the judge will have to decide if she will be a youthful offender.”
Tirico was 16 years old when the accident occurred Jan. 4, 2009.
If the judge treats Tirico as a youthful offender, she would face anything from probation to six years in prison.
Mason said the state wants Tirico charged her as an adult.
If convicted as an adult, Tirico would face from four to more than 10 years in prison.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Tirico, Burkhart-Smith and 16-year-old Brytney Olsen had left a party when Tirico ran a stop sign at the intersection of East Bay Loop Road and State Road 20 near Freeport. She crossed SR 20 and hit an oak tree while going 23 mph.
Burkhart-Smith, who was in the back seat wearing a seat belt, was flown to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola and died later.
Tests showed Tirico’s blood-alcohol level at 0.102, according to the FHP.
Tirico was arrested March 11, 2009, more than two months after the accident.
