Published April 27. 2016 04:00PM
A Carbon County judge rejected the request of a Luzerne County woman for house arrest and sent her to prison for driving drunk with her child in the vehicle.
Judge Joseph J. Matika sentenced Jelena Lavinja Woodham, 30, of Hazleton, to serve a total of 90 days to one year in prison. She previously pleaded to counts of driving under the influence, driving while her license was suspended-DUI related and endangering the welfare of a child.Matika rejected a request by attorney Curt Parkins to place Woodham in the county's Intermediate Punishment Program with electronic monitoring for the full 90 days.Matika told Woodham, "The court takes a very dim view of people driving with a suspended license, drunk and with a child in the car." Matika noted that Woodham was initially stopped for speeding along Interstate 80 in Kidder Township on April 16, 2015, by state police at Fern Ridge for going 100 mph. At the stop troopers found her then 8-year-old son in the vehicle. A test showed 0.22 BAC.Woodham told the court she was going through a stressful time when the incident occurred with a lot of problems in her life. She also said she wants to care for her son.On the endangering charge Matika imposed the 90 days to one year count. On the suspension count he sentenced her to serve 45 to 90 days, adding she must serve the full 90 days, and on the DUI count, five days to 60 months. All the terms run concurrent.He also ordered her to get a drug and alcohol evaluation, zero tolerance for drug and alcohol use, render a total of 150 hours of community service when released on parole, pay a fine of $1,500 for the DUI and license suspended for 18 months, pay a $1,000 fine on the suspension count, pay court costs of about $1,000, pay a $50 per month supervision fee while on parole, and continue outpatient counseling when released from prison.She began the jail term immediately.