The driver of a vehicle that struck and killed an undergraduate in Connecticut last May pleaded guilty Monday to second-degree manslaughter, driving while intoxicated and two other charges at a hearing in Litchfield, Conn.

Steven T. Driscoll, the 28-year-old driver of the car, was leaving a bar around midnight on May 22 when he swerved to the right, hitting pedestrians Sarah T. Craig '99, Lucy Yen '99, Jennifer R. Weiss '99 and Ruby Hsu '99. Craig died in the hospital after a brief coma.

The four undergraduates had been visiting Craig's home in Norfolk the weekend before final exams.

Driscoll originally pleaded not guilty to the four charges, which also include assault in the third degree with a motor vehicle and a motor vehicle infraction. He will be sentenced on November 15 and faces a maximum sentence of 11-and-a-half years in prison, according to Assistant State's Attorney David S. Shepack.

Craig's mother, Valerie Craig, said yesterday she believes that Driscoll is facing a lighter sentence because he was drunk when he hit and killed her daughter.

"Being drunk is an excuse because second-degree manslaughter carries a 10-year sentence and third-degree assault carries a one-year sentence maximum," she said.

"The way the laws are written, driving drunk is still used as an excuse," Valerie Craig said. "He does not have to answer the questions that a murderer has to answer because his excuse is 'I was drunk.' For instance, he doesn't have to answer why he turned his vehicle towards them because he can say it's assumed he was drunk, he didn't know."

According to Valerie Craig, drunk driving offenders are also often required to serve only half their term because of various programs available to them.

The sentence is also usually lessened when the defendant plea bargains, as Driscoll did, she said.

On Sunday, Valerie Craig met with 12 of her daughter's friends in Weiss' Dunster House room. She urged them to write letters to the judge "telling him not only about the special attributes that Sarah had but also their feelings about the fact that the law excuses manslaughter if you're drunk, to an extent," she said.

In addition, Craig's mother will make a victim's plea to the judge that Driscoll be barred from driving during his probation.

Connecticut law normally returns driver's licenses to drunk driving offenders after one year, even if they have caused a fatality, Valerie Craig said.

"The only way I can keep [Driscoll] from driving is to ask the judge to make it a condition of his probation that he's not allowed to drive while he's on probation," she said.

Four Months Later

Craig's mother said it has been impossible to resume life as normal since her daughter's death.

"It's been horrible. It's just been a nightmare to lose [my] daughter," she said.

And according to Valerie Craig, the 3,000 residents of rural Norfolk, Conn., where she lives, have not been supportive since her daughter's death.

The town has one drug store, one hardware store, a little pizza shop, a liquor store and a pub, located about half a mile from Craig's house.

Driscoll was coming from that pub when he hit and killed Craig, her mother said.

And although he has had other drunk driving charges in the past, Driscoll has been supported by friends and relatives in the town, Craig said.

"They're a large family and so much of the town is related to him," Craig said. "They've been here for centuries."

Ongoing harassment, such as people driving past her house and shouting things out their car windows, sometimes for five days in a row, in August forced Craig to close the herb and spice store she ran on her property for 12 years, she said.

The single mother, who has a 14-year-old son attending The Hotchkiss School in Connecticut, said she doesn't know what she'll be doing next.

"Something like this affects you so incredibly that you just can't continue on with your life the way you used to," she said. "A lot of my time is spent on this trial and just grieving. I try and face each day."

Yen, Weiss and Hsu are back at Harvard now, but their lives have been changed.

Yen, who is writing a letter to the judge, said she thinks about Craig often.

"It's hard for me to realize that she's not coming back," Yen said.

It is unclear whether the University is planning to take any action to influence the judge's decision on Driscoll's sentencing. Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 said he is very aware of the case but had no comment