A South River woman pleaded guilty on Aug. 7 to causing the death of a 49-year-old man from North Brunswick while driving while intoxicated.
Phyllis Kocheran, 52, of South River, pleaded guilty to one count of second degree vehicular homicide and driving while intoxicated for striking and causing the death of William Oross on May 3, according to information provided by Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey.
Kocheran was charged following an investigation by Detective Joseph Guiamano of the South River Police Department and Detective Mark Morris of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.
The investigation determined that Kocheran, while driving her blue 2011 Jeep Wrangler on Pulawski Avenue on May 3 at 11:17 a.m., was highly intoxicated when she struck Oross, who was working for a private recycling company at the time he was struck, according to the statement. Oross was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, where he was pronounced dead from the blunt force injuries he sustained from being hit by the Jeep, officials said.
Under a plea agreement reached with Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Keith Abrams, Kocheran will be sentenced to a prison term of six years for killing Oross. This term is subject to the No Early Release Act. As such, the defendant will have to serve 85 percent of her prison term before becoming eligible for parole.
Kocheran is scheduled to be sentenced in New Brunswick by Superior Court Judge Michael Toto on Oct. 2.