Woman sentenced to 7 years for hit-and-run that killed teen

A mother from Leonardo was sentenced to seven years in prison for leaving the scene of a car crash that left a 15-year-old girl dead.
Toni Ann Marletta crashed into Marissa Procopio and left her for dead on the side of Route 36 in Middletown in 2015. Marletta had apparently gone to a store with her daughter and two friends to pick up snacks for a sleepover and a bottle of wine for herself when she hit the teenager. She said she panicked and fled because she didn't have any car insurance.
"If I could go back and change the event of it I would, but I know I cannot," said Marletta.
Marletta broke down as she faced Danielle Procopio-Adams, the victim's mother, in court Friday before receiving her prison sentence.
"She's an animal and she left her on the side of the road like road kill," said Procopio-Adams.



Procopio-Adams was dressed in purple to honor her daughter Marissa. She says no apology can bring back her daughter.
"You'd never meet another one like her," says Procopio-Adams. "She was like one in a million that you would get. She was a good girl."
Cocaine and alcohol were found in Marletta's system, according to testimony, but a prosecution expert was unable to determine if that played a role in the fatal crash as Marletta turned herself in sometime after the crash.
"Her fake tears and her trying to talk to me, that was unacceptable, but it's OK for today and semi-justice was served. I'm hoping to get the rest from the inmates," says Procopio-Adams.



The sentence was part of a plea bargain. Marletta pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and endangering the welfare of a child. It also came out in court that she told the three girls in her car to keep quiet about what happened until she could figure out what to do.