A New Jersey woman has navigated the legal system without serving time in prison after being found guilty of causing a deadly highway crash, prosecutors in the state announced this week.

In October 2025, Danielle M. Bowker, aged 34, was convicted by an Ocean County jury on two counts of third-degree vehicular manslaughter. This verdict stemmed from a tragic accident in March 2022 that claimed the lives of Michael Sadis, 48, and Paul Lamberti, 58.

Last Friday, Superior Court Judge Dina M. Vicari sentenced Bowker to five years of probation and revoked her driving privileges for two years, a decision that significantly differed from the punishment sought by prosecutors.

The prosecution had advocated for Bowker to receive a three-year prison sentence for each victim, with the sentences to be served consecutively, as outlined in a press release from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.

The accident occurred in Manchester Township on the morning of March 29, 2022. Around 7:15 a.m., officers from the Manchester Township Police Department responded to the scene of the collision on Route 571, located approximately 30 miles southeast of Trenton.

There, responding officers found a five-car pileup with one confirmed fatality. The investigation determined Bowker’s 2018 Honda Civic was traveling westbound when it struck a New Jersey Department of Transportation Ford F-550 pickup truck traveling eastbound.

Somewhat miraculously, the head-on collision did not kill either driver directly involved – or the passenger in the pickup truck.

But the same could not be said for two other drivers caught in the fray.

“As a consequence, the Ford F-550 lost directional control and struck a 2012 Toyota Camry operated by Mr. Sadis, pushing the Camry off the roadway into an embankment,” the press release explains. “The Ford F-550 continued in the same direction of travel and struck a 2015 Toyota Corolla operated by Mr. Lamberti.”

Sadis was pronounced dead at the scene while Lamberti was airlifted to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune where he eventually succumbed to his injuries, prosecutors said.

In June 2022, Bowker was charged with two counts each of vehicular homicide, assault by auto, strict liability vehicular homicide, and driving while intoxicated, prosecutors noted. She was formally indicted by a grand jury in February 2023.

When Bowker was charged, prosecutors alleged the defendant was a “recent, active user of marijuana” at the time of the crash, based on lab results showing THC in her system, according to Patch.com.

“Upon reviewing the laboratory results of Bowker’s blood draw, the state’s psychopharmacologist rendered an opinion that at the time of the crash, Bowker’s faculties were impaired due to the effects of marijuana intoxication, and that she could not safely operate a motor vehicle,” Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said then.

During her trial, Bowker admitted to smoking marijuana the night before the incident. A defense expert also explained that the effects of such marijuana use would have worn off long before the time she awoke and drove the next morning.

Jurors ultimately rejected the marijuana-related charges.

While reading the verdicts aloud, the jury forewoman said Bowker’s recklessness was merely the result of failure to maintain a lane, according to a courtroom report by the Asbury Park Press.

“Reckless driving is not a mistake – it is a dangerous choice that costs lives. This jury’s verdict makes clear that we will hold drivers accountable when they put other lives at risk. Let this verdict serve as a cautionary tale: if you drive recklessly and take a life, you will face the consequences,” Billhimer said in a statement after the verdict. “While nothing can bring their loved ones back, we hope today’s verdict provides some measure of justice and closure for the loved ones of Michael Sadis and Paul Lamberti.”