A woman accused of driving under the influence of a controlled substance last year and causing a DUI crash received sentencing this week in Santa Barbara, California. Updated accident reports obtained, and court documents confirmed that 52-year-old Laura Mae Gish, of Goleta, was on Wednesday, May 27, sentenced to seven years in a state prison.

According to court papers, Gish ended up in police custody on January 18, 2019, after crashing an Amtrak bus on Highway 101, near Los Alamos. Records show the convict was conveying no fewer than 25 passengers in the vehicle, while under the influence of the drug methamphetamine.

Laura Mae Gish suddenly lost control of her 2015 Volvo bus, which veered off the roadway and collided with a tree. It then rolled onto its side before coming to rest on a dirt ditch. Several occupants in the bus suffered bodily damages, including one with a fractured jaw. Two others sustained spinal fractures, and several others wounded up with bloody noses and bruises. Multiple civil lawsuits have arisen from the solo crash.

On March 4, the suspect pleaded no contest before Judge Patricia Kelly, thereby avoiding a trial in Santa Barbara County Superior Court. Preliminary accident reports show she initially told officers she had used the drug days before the crash. She later admitted to using it the night before.

Following a preliminary hearing in summer last year, the court ordered Gish to stand trial on charges of driving under the influence of drugs causing injury. The court order also indicated special allegations of causing bodily harm and injuring more than one person.

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