LuAnn Burgess, driver who struck and killed 3 women outside a church, spared jail time

ALBANY -- A judge on Friday spared a 56-year-old woman from jail time for mowing down three pedestrians with her car at a suburban Albany church while taking several prescription medications, instead sentencing her to probation and community service.

LuAnn Burgess of Voorheesville could have been sentenced in Albany County Court to six months in jail after pleading guilty in November to negligent homicide. But Judge Stephen Herrick said Burgess was remorseful over the August 2011 crash in her hometown and that no one warned her she shouldn't drive after taking drugs prescribed for her Parkinson's disease.

"A six-month sentence will not serve as a deterrent to anyone else out their driving on prescription medications," Herrick said while sentencing Burgess to five years' probation and 600 hours of community service.

Burgess admitted in court that she was taking six medications and became distracted Aug. 10, 2011, when her sport utility vehicle ran off a road, hit three Albany-area women and crashed into a Catholic church in the village of Voorheesville.

All three women were among a local group of walkers in Voorheesville that morning for an outing. Police said 66-year-old Carol Lansing of Green Island; and Rosemarie Hume, 79, and Fran Pallozzi, 81, both of Waterford, were waiting for a companion outside St. Matthew's Roman Catholic Church when the SUV left the road, cut across a section of parking lot and barreled into them.

The SUV continued a short distance, dragging two of the women, before it crashed into the church's vestibule.

"I am so sorry to have caused your pain," Burgess told the court before the sentence was imposed. "Words can't express the sorrow I feel."

As part of her plea agreement, Burgess agreed never to drive again.