Kevin Coffay is responsible for what officials say is one of the worst drunk driving crashes in Montgomery County’s history. He was ordered to spend more time in prison after trying numerous times to drive after drinking. News4’s Meagan Fitzgerald reports.
A Maryland man who served prison time for a drunken-driving crash that killed three of his friends was sentenced to more prison time on Monday after he tried to drive with alcohol in his system more than 100 times and removed a device from his car that would monitor his sobriety.
Kevin Coffay, 28, appeared in Montgomery County Circuit Court on Monday. A judge ordered him to serve seven more years in prison; that's the amount of time that was suspended from his original sentence.
He was originally sentenced to 20 years in prison for the 2011 crash. He ended up serving only four years.
Coffay was 20 in May 2011 when he left a party drunk, got behind the wheel and crashed in Olney, Maryland.
Three people were killed: Spencer Datt, 18; Johnny Hoover, 20; and Haeley McGuire, 18. A fourth passenger, a 19-year-old, was injured but survived.
All three of the young people killed had attended Magruder High School, in Rockville. Coffay attended James Madison University.
"It could easily be characterized as the worst ... DUI accident in the history of this county," Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy said at a news conference.
Coffay fled the scene. When police found him about three hours later, his blood alcohol content was still twice the legal limit, prosecutors said.
He was initially held on $500,000 bond. A judge then reduced it to $50,000 and ruled that he did not need an electronic monitor.
Coffay pleaded guilty to three counts of vehicular manslaughter and one count of leaving the scene. He was originally sentenced to 20 years in prison.
But a panel of judges reduced his sentence to eight years in prison and five years of probation. Ultimately, he was released after serving four years.
Coffay got a driver's license again in 2018 and had to drive with an ignition interlock device to monitor his sobriety.
According to court documents, Coffay tried to drive after drinking more than 100 different times. In some of the cases, his blood alcohol level was below the legal limit.
Prosecutors said Coffay squandered chance after chance by continuing to engage in the reckless behavior that killed his friends in 2011.
"[He would] get drunk in D.C., sleep it off and then drive home the next day, and the ignition interlock is picking up when he has levels of alcohol in his system," prosecutor Bryan Roslund said.
Coffay's license was suspended, but he kept driving. He was pulled over in September 2019. An officer found he had a suspended license, and he admitted he had the ignition interlock device removed from his car, court documents say.
He was sentenced to two years in prison in that case.
In total, Coffay will spend nine additional years in prison. He is not eligible for parole.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
