CARROLL COUNTY, MD. (WBFF) — A Baltimore woman was sentenced to nine years in prison, with six years suspended and five years of supervised probation, for a deadly drunk driving crash in March 2025, the Office of the State’s Attorney for Carroll County announced Wednesday.
32-year-old Lydia Hanson was found guilty of automobile manslaughter on April 1, 2026.
According to authorities, in the early morning hours of March 16, 2025, Hanson was driving erratically and at a high rate of speed southbound on Route 97.
Officials said she then crossed into the northbound lane and caused multiple on-coming vehicles to swerve out of the way.
Hanson then ran head-on into 78-year-old Richard Snyder’s vehicle and killed him. Snyder left behind his wife, to whom he had been married to for 52 years.
Authorities said that Hanson was taken to the hospital where she refused to take a blood test. Maryland State Police secured a search and seizure warrant for her blood, which showed she was a .34 BAC, four times the legal limit in Maryland.
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Further investigation revealed Hanson was driving 99 MPH in a 55 MPH zone, on top of being in the opposite lane at the time of the crash.
Hanson had also been stopped for a DUI the day prior and within a few miles of where the collision occurred.
The State asked the court to impose a sentence at the top of the Maryland Sentencing Guidelines of nine years to serve and six years suspended above the active incarceration.
Additionally, the State requested the maximum of five years of supervised probation so that the defendant could be supervised upon her release.
Judge Brian DeLeonardo imposed the sentence the State was requesting and rejected the request from her defense attorney that she serve only four years.
During sentencing, DeLeonardo stated:
These are the worst facts I have seen in any of these cases. You didn’t intend to kill the victim, but you did intend the behavior that led up to it. The day before you were arrested and charged and you would think that would have been a wake-up call to you and it wasn’t. Several hours after the crash your BAC was a .34 and that is incomprehensible. The driving was extreme and dangerous, and it was no surprise that someone died. It was really destiny that you would seriously injure or kill someone.
Now, Hansen will serve time in prison.
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