An Atlantic City man accused of driving while intoxicated in a crash that killed a recently married couple has rejected a plea offer that would have sent him to prison for seven years.
Levon A. Woods, 25, was driving on Mays Landing Road in Maurice River Township in Cumberland County around 4 a.m. on Feb. 22. Prosecutors said his car crossed into the oncoming lane and hit a westbound vehicle driven by 57-year-old Thomas Splinter.
Splinter and passenger Nancy Orellana-Splinter, 29, both of Mays Landing, died at the scene.
The Splinters married in September 2024.
Woods showed signs of intoxication at the crash scene and told police he was drinking at a Philadelphia nightclub prior to the crash, investigators said. Woods acknowledged he “sipped on a bottle” of cognac at the club, according to court documents.
Woods’ blood alcohol concentration was measured at 0.095% four hours after the crash, according to prosecutors. Based on that reading, his level would have been 0.155% around the time of the crash, the prosecution said.
The legal limit is 0.08%.
A Cumberland County grand jury indicted Woods in August on two counts each of second-degree vehicular homicide, third-degree strict liability vehicular homicide and second-degree violation of a law intended to protect public health and safety.
He entered a not guilty plea during a post-indictment arraignment hearing Oct. 3.
Under the rejected plea offer, the prosecution would have recommended a seven-year prison sentence in return for a guilty plea. Woods would have to serve 85% of that time before being eligible for parole.
Woods told investigators that a friend drove him from Philadelphia to Deerfield on the night of the crash, and that he drove his car from Deerfield as he headed home to Atlantic City.
After the crash, he told police he didn’t think he was too intoxicated to drive. He also said he didn’t recall the accident and may have fallen asleep, police said.
Woods remains free pending trial and is due back in court on Oct. 31 for his next hearing.
A friend of the Splinters recalled them as a happy, loving couple who were “always there for each other and their friends and family, no matter what.”
The father of Nancy Orellana-Splinter’s son has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Woods on behalf of the boy.
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