An Arizona woman has pleaded guilty to several crimes after she allegedly drove drunk, crashed her car into a pedestrian, and left the scene of the accident. She will now spend five and 27 years in prison, with the exact sentence to be determined at a hearing next month.

According to police reports, the pedestrian accident took place in Oct. 2010 when a 26-year-old Tucson got behind the wheel of her car after she had been drinking. While driving near North First Avenue and East Prince Road, the woman hit a 19-year-old pedestrian. She then sped away from the scene of the crash. About a mile away, a citizen managed to stop the car and called the police.

The accident victim suffered significant injuries, including broken limbs and a serious head injury. Police did not state how fast the car was going when it collided with the pedestrian.

When police arrived at the scene, they administered a chemical test and concluded that the driver's blood alcohol level was more than 0.20 percent. The legal limit throughout Arizona is 0.08 percent.

Last month, the driver pled guilty to every crime for which she was indicted last October, including leaving the scene of an accident, two counts of aggravated assault, and four counts of driving under the influence of alcohol. Under the terms of her plea deal, she faces a mandatory sentence of between five and 15 years on one of the two charges of aggravated assault. She could receive either prison or probation sentences on the other assault charge and on the charge of leaving the scene. The drunk driving crimes are misdemeanors and carry maximum sentences of six months in jail, but they could be served at the same time.

Source: Arizona Daily Star, "Tucson woman pleads guilty in DUI-related wreck," Kim Smith, Sept. 23, 2011