Amy Locane: The Crash, Four Sentences, and the Double Jeopardy Fight

Amy Locane is a former American actress, known for the 1990 John Waters film Cry-Baby and the first season of Melrose Place, whose career was overtaken by a fatal drunk driving crash in New Jersey on June 27, 2010. She killed 60-year-old Helene Seeman, was convicted of vehicular homicide, and was then sentenced four separate times across nearly eight years as appellate courts repeatedly threw out her punishment as too lenient. She was released from prison in December 2024.

The 2010 Crash

Locane spent the evening of June 27, 2010 at a barbecue hosted by Rachel and Carlos Sagebien in Montgomery Township, New Jersey. She left after several drinks. Her blood alcohol level was later measured at roughly .27 percent, more than three times the state’s .08 legal limit.¹

Shortly after leaving, she rear-ended a minivan driven by Maureen Ruckelshaus at a stop sign and sped off. Ruckelshaus, who later said Locane “appeared wasted,” followed her for about four miles, flashing her lights and honking to try to make her pull over.² Locane hit a curb, knocked over a mailbox, and turned onto Cherry Hill Road.³

Driving about 53 miles per hour in a 35-mph zone, her SUV broadsided a Mercury Milan turning into a driveway.⁴ The driver was Fred Seeman, a lawyer. His wife, Helene, was in the passenger seat. She died at the scene. Fred Seeman suffered multiple broken ribs and a punctured lung, and years later required surgery to repair a hole in his diaphragm.¹

The Conviction

Locane was indicted in Somerset County Superior Court on charges including vehicular homicide and assault by auto.⁵ At her November 2012 trial, her defense argued that Ruckelshaus’s pursuit contributed to the speed of the crash. Ruckelshaus testified she had been trying to get a dangerously drunk driver off the road.⁶

The jury convicted Locane of second-degree vehicular homicide, fourth-degree assault by auto, and leaving the scene of an accident.⁷ She was not convicted of a standalone DUI charge, although the state’s expert testified her blood alcohol level was roughly three times the legal limit.⁴

Why She Was Sentenced Four Times

The conviction was not the unusual part of Locane’s case. The sentencing was. Four separate proceedings between 2013 and 2020 produced four different sentences, as appellate courts kept ruling that trial judges had been too lenient or had ignored the sentencing framework.

February 2013: Three Years

Somerset County Superior Court Judge Robert Reed sentenced Locane to three years. Second-degree vehicular homicide in New Jersey carries a presumptive range of five to ten years, but Judge Reed downgraded the offense to a third-degree crime, citing her clean record and the welfare of her children.⁷ Prosecutors, who had asked for seven years, appealed.⁸ Locane started serving her time and was paroled in June 2015.

January 2017: Three Years Again

After her release, an appellate panel ruled that Judge Reed had not adequately explained the downgrade. The case went back to him, and he reimposed the same three-year term.⁹ Because she had already served it, she stayed free.

February 2019: Five Years

In March 2018, an appellate court again found the sentence “excessively lenient” and said it “shocks our judicial conscience.” The panel wrote that Judge Reed had created a “free crime” on the assault-by-auto charge and ordered the case reassigned.⁹ Judge Kevin Shanahan then sentenced her to five years. She remained free on bail while appealing.

September 2020: Eight Years

That sentence was also vacated. In July 2020 the Appellate Division found Judge Shanahan had used what it called “a methodology all his own” instead of the framework set out in earlier rulings.¹⁰ On September 17, 2020, Judge Angela Borkowski sentenced Locane to eight years for vehicular homicide and 18 months for assault by auto, to run concurrently.¹¹ She had to serve at least six years before parole eligibility. With roughly three years already served, she faced about three more.

Judge Borkowski told her from the bench: “You made a conscious decision to drink that day and continued to drink, recognizing at the onset that you needed a ride but didn’t obtain one. If you hadn’t gotten behind the wheel of your vehicle on this night, the incident never would have happened.”¹¹ The judge pointed to Locane’s refusal to fully accept responsibility and her history of alcohol abuse as reasons she remained a risk.

The Double Jeopardy Question

Locane’s attorney, James Wronko, argued throughout that sending her back to prison after she had already finished her original sentence and parole violated the constitutional protection against double jeopardy.⁷

The Appellate Division rejected that argument in July 2020. Because prosecutors had filed a timely notice of appeal within ten days of the original sentencing, the court held, the sentence never became legally final. The state’s appeal triggered an automatic stay, and by choosing to begin serving her time while the appeal was pending, Locane gave up any expectation of finality. As the court put it: “When the government timely appeals an initial sentence or a sentence imposed at a re-sentencing, a defendant is put on notice that the sentence may change and he or she cannot acquire a legitimate expectation of finality.”¹⁰

Wronko responded that Locane had not voluntarily surrendered in 2013; the state had moved to revoke her bail and the judge granted it.⁸ In December 2022, Locane lost a federal appeal of her sentence and remained in prison.¹² Legal analyst John Furlong, quoted by The Guardian, called the sequence “unprecedented” and said that “when a sentence is extended willy-nilly, and after time has been served, the very concept of justice is undermined.”⁷

The Civil Settlement

Fred Seeman and his son Curtis filed a wrongful death suit in federal court against Locane, her then-husband Mark Bovenizer (who owned the SUV), and the Sagebiens, the couple who hosted the barbecue.¹³ In 2017 the case settled for nearly $4.8 million. Locane and Bovenizer, through Travelers Insurance, paid about $1.5 million. The Sagebiens, through Chubb Insurance, paid $3.3 million, reflecting their exposure as social hosts who had served alcohol to a visibly intoxicated guest who then drove.¹⁴

Where She Is Now

Locane was released from the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Union Township, New Jersey, in late December 2024, five days before Christmas. Across her two stints in custody, she had served about six and a half years.¹⁵

In an April 2025 interview with Us Weekly, Locane said she had been sober since 2010 and expressed remorse for Helene Seeman’s death. “To this day, I have a lot of remorse,” she said, describing it as “a very, very, very heavy reality to live with.”¹⁶ Those statements stood in contrast to what multiple judges had said during sentencing, where she had been faulted for refusing to accept full responsibility. She said she was living outside Princeton, New Jersey, working the front desk at a doctor’s office, and pursuing an associate degree.¹⁷

1
MyCentralJersey.com. Widower Asks Judge to Give Locane Severe Sentence for Killing Wife
2
NBC Philadelphia. Manslaughter Trial Continues for Melrose Actress
3
Entertainment Weekly. The Tragic Story of Amy Locane
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CBS News. Amy Locane, Melrose Place Actress, Prison for Deadly 2010 Crash
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New Jersey Courts. State v. Locane, Appellate Division Opinion
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Los Angeles Times. Melrose Place Actress Guilty in Fatal Crash
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The Guardian. The Legal Nightmare of Actor Amy Locane
8
KSAT. Court Orders 4th Sentencing for Actress in 2010 Fatal Crash
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MyCentralJersey.com. Court Rules Amy Locane Got Free Crime, Must Be Re-Sentenced
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New Jersey Courts. State v. Locane, Appellate Division Opinion (A-2828-18T4)
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NJ.com. Melrose Place Actress Amy Locane Headed Back to Prison for Fatal Crash a Decade Ago
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NJ.com. Melrose Place Actress Amy Locane Loses Federal Appeal of DWI Sentence
13
Courthouse News Service. Actress Accused of Drunk Driving Fatality
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NJ.com. Melrose Place Actress Settles Fatal Hit-and-Run Case
15
Remind Magazine. Amy Locane: Whatever Happened to the Melrose Place and Cry-Baby Star
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Us Magazine. Amy Locane Shares Her Journey, Regrets and Life Post-Prison
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Yahoo Entertainment. Amy Locane Looks Back at Early Career