Drunken driver gets the maximum in 93-year-old's death

The life of 93-year-old Edith Schouveller was "one of the most impressive things" about the trial of Eddie Cortez Smith, Ramsey County District Judge Rosanne Nathanson said on Thursday.

She then sentenced Smith to 10 years in prison, the maximum allowed by law, for driving drunk and killing Schouveller.

Schouveller, who died three weeks after the March 28, 2010, accident, lived on her own and spent much of her time taking care of her house and yard. She was on her way home from church when the Sunday-morning accident happened.

"Her loss, as has been made clear during the trial, has had a dramatic effect on this family," Nathanson said. "The loss is not going to go away."

Nearly a dozen of Schouveller's family members attended the sentencing and said they were pleased that Nathanson gave Smith the maximum sentence for the criminal vehicular homicide conviction. A jury also found Smith guilty of criminal vehicular injury in May for the injuries sustained by Ted Hanson, the driver of the vehicle Schouveller was in.

"I'm glad the judge stuck to her guns," son Dennis Schouveller said.

Prosecutor Lawrence Schultz told Nathanson that Smith had 55 traffic and criminal convictions in the past 14 years, including six convictions for driving without insurance and 37 convictions for driving after revocation or suspension. Smith, 33, never had a Minnesota driver's license.

Murad Mohammad, Smith's attorney, pointed out that Smith was not drinking the morning of the accident. Smith had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.11 percent after the accident, which happened about 10:30 a.m. in St. Paul's West Seventh neighborhood. He told police that he had three shots of tequila and several beers the night before.

Smith, who did not testify at his trial, told Nathanson that he had called someone for a ride that morning, but after a disagreement the woman left. He got into a car to catch up with her and hit the car Schouveller was riding in. Smith asked his family and Schouveller's family for forgiveness.

"I really wasn't in my right state of mind that day," Smith said.

Nathanson urged Smith to look to Schouveller's life as inspiration for his own.

"She was a role model of how you should run your life," Dennis Schouveller said.