Woman Charged In Fatal Crash Sentenced To Year Of Probation

HILLSBORO, N.D. (AP) — A Hatton woman accused of causing a fatal crash while using her cellphone while driving will not spend time in jail.

Twenty-year-old Abby Sletten had faced a felony negligent homicide charge in the May 2014 death of 89-year-old Phyllis Gordon, of Ada, Minnesota. She pleaded guilty Wednesday to a reduced misdemeanor charge of aggravated reckless driving and was sentenced to about a year of unsupervised probation.

Authorities said Sletten was driving and on her cellphone when she rear-ended another vehicle on Interstate 29 at 85 miles per hour. Gordon was a passenger in the vehicle that was hit.

Defense attorney Bruce Quick says it isn't clear whether Sletten was actually on her phone at the time of the crash.

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