Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that on Tuesday, July 23, Nicholle Hoke, age 45, of Shawnee, Oklahoma, was sentenced in Orange County Court to four to twelve years in prison as it relates to her previous plea of guilty to Aggravated Vehicular Homicide.
As alleged in documents filed and statements made in court, on June 24, 2023 at approximately 10 p.m., Hoke crashed her vehicle into another vehicle on Route 9W in the Town of Newburgh. As a result, one passenger in the other vehicle was killed and another suffered serious physical injury. Hoke told police that she was driving to her hotel from a bar in New Paltz where she was drinking. A warrant was signed for blood drawn from Hoke at St. Luke’s hospital, which revealed her blood alcohol content was twice the legal limit at 0.16%. At the plea proceedings, Hoke admitted that she engaged in reckless driving and caused the death of one person and the serious physical injury of another while having over a 0.08% blood alcohol content.
Hoovler thanked the Town of Newburgh Police Department for their investigation which led to the arrest of Hoke. District Attorney He also thanked the New York State Police for their assistance in the investigation.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Tanja Beemer.