Court Rejects Woman’s Manslaughter Conviction Appeal

OCEAN CITY — A Maryland appeals court last month denied a bid by a Pennsylvania woman to overturn her criminally negligent manslaughter conviction for the death of her 12-year-old child in a crash on the Salisbury bypass.

The Maryland Court of Special Appeals denied an appeal filed by Tabitha Dobrzynski, now 41, who was convicted in 2013 of criminally negligent manslaughter in the death of her 12-year-old daughter in an accident on Route 50 and the Salisbury bypass on Aug. 5, 2012. Dobrzynski was heading from West Virginia to Ocean City in a Jeep Wrangler with her four children, one of which, the 12-year-old victim, was not restrained by a seatbelt.

Dobrzynski, had been awake for 28 hours and on the road for 14 hours while popping a variety of painkillers and other prescription medications when she rolled the Jeep multiple times on the Salisbury bypass on the way to Ocean City. She was convicted of criminally negligent manslaughter and sentenced to three years in jail, but appealed the conviction asserting she did not understand the implications of the combination of medications she had taken during the trip. The Court of Special Appeals denied the appeal and upheld the conviction handed down by the Wicomico County Circuit Court.

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