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Background

Amy Locane got her start in showbiz at an early age, starring in more than 60 commercials before the age of 12. In 1984, she was cast as a series regular on the sitcom Spencer, but the show only lasted for 13 episodes before being canceled.

She starred in several movies and TV shows over the years, even skipping her senior prom to star opposite Johnny Depp in a film.

She got her big break when she was cast as a series regular on the first season of Melrose Place, but she was written off after 13 episodes due to immaturity and a bad attitude. The show went on to run for 7 seasons.

After losing her gig on Melrose Place, her career took a hit. She never did another TV show, and she never became the household name she dreamed of as a kid. Eventually, she left Hollywood and moved back to New Jersey, where she was born.

Back home, she met a man, got married, had kids, and became a stay-at-home mom.

Crime

She was living a normal life out of the spotlight, but her life changed forever on June 27th, 2010, at 9:05 pm in Montgomery, NJ.

Locane was driving 53 miles per hour in a 35-mile-per-hour zone when she hit a car that was turning left into a driveway. The crash killed 60-year-old Helene Seeman, a passenger in the vehicle.

Locane’s blood alcohol level was revealed to be .23, nearly three times the legal limit. In December of 2010, she was charged with aggravated manslaughter and assault by automobile.

Legal Proceedings

On November 12^th, 2012, she was convicted of vehicular homicide and assault by auto. She was later sentenced to 3 years in prison by Judge Robert B. Reed, a sentence less than the 5-to-15-year term she faced. His main reason for the light sentence was that she had a 4-year-old with Crohn’s disease.

The sentence enraged the Seeman family. The husband of the victim yelled, “Having a sick child doesn’t give you a pass to kill my wife.”

Locane served two and a half years in prison and was released on parole on June 12^th, 2015, but that wasn’t the end of the case. In July of 2016, an appeals court decided to re-review her 3-year sentence. They felt Judge Reed did not give an adequate reason for his lenient sentence.

In September of 2020, after years of court battles, she was sentenced to 8 years in prison after a new judge agreed her initial sentence was too lenient.

Locane’s lawyer tried to argue double jeopardy since she already served a 3-year sentence and had completed her parole, but that argument was rejected.

Incarceration and Release

She served her sentence at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Union Township, N.J.

She was released on December 20, 2024.