Updated Wednesday --- January 16, 2008 --- 3:30pm

A Mount Horeb teen pleads no-contest to homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle.

19 year-old Samantha Young admitted to police that she was under the influence of alcohol and cocaine when she crashed into the car of UW Whitewater Professor Paula Poorman last June.

Poorman died of injuries.

Young faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison with extended supervision.

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Posted Thursday ---- October 25, 2007 --- 4:53pm

The court enters a not guilty plea for the Mt. Horeb teen charged with homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle

19-year-old Samantha Young is accused of causing the death of 56-year-old UW-Whitewater Professor Paula Poorman.

Police say Young was drunk and high when she caused the June crash.

Prosecutors say Young was driving at speeds over 120 miles an hour at the time of the crash.

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Posted August 9, 2007

A 19-year-old who is charged with homicide while driving intoxicated was in court Thursday.

Samantha Young is accused of causing the death of 56-year old Whitewater Professor Paula Poorman.

Police say Young was drunk and high when she caused the crash.

Bail had been set at $20,000. But pending approval by the bail monitoring program it would be reduced to $5,000.

If the program accepts her, she will live with her mother and work during the trial. She will not be able to drive, and have to take drug and alcohol tests.

Young's Attorney Helene Zinberg says, "She's completely devastated. She's so sad that to have been involved in causing the death of such a fine person. She asked me many times to be able to contact the family, but I had to tell her that we have to respect the system and their privacy."

The prosecutor, which is happy with the program, was worried about public safety. Young has a history of reckless driving and drug use. She's been involved in 5 traffic accidents since 2005.
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Bail is set at $20,000 for the 19-year old accused of causing a crash on the interstate that killed a Madison woman.

Samantha Young faces a charge of murder by intoxicated use of a vehicle and first degree reckless homicide in connection with Wednesday's crash near Edgerton.

Prosecutors say Young was high on cocaine, had alcohol in her system, and was driving at speeds over 120 miles-per-hour at the time of the crash.

Police say she crashed her car into another car driven by Paula Poorman. Dan Powell witnessed the whole thing. He says he was going about 70 miles-per-hour when he saw a car coming up on him very quickly and got over so the car could pass.

"She passed me like I was sitting still," explained Powell.

He was concerned and decided to call the police, but before he could even dial, he saw brake lights flicker and then a crash.

"She slammed into the car and the car started rolling and it looked like it was shot out of a cannon it was a terrible scene," said Powell.

A scene that took the life of 56-year-old Paula Poorman, a psychology professor at UW-Whitewater.

"The images are pretty much branded on your mind. It's not something you get over pretty quickly," Powell said.

As a youth pastor and a father of two teenagers, he knows two families are suffering and will continue to suffer for a long time to come.

"My heart goes out obviously the victim, but also the girl. Being 19 and her whole life ahead of her and taking the life of an individual that's pretty heavy," said Powell sadly.

Powell has had some difficulty driving on that stretch of the interstate to get to work, but he says his church and family are helping him cope.

As for Young, she faces two counts of murder and her bail is set at $20,000.

Dane County Assistant District Attorney Mike Verveer says, "This is an outrageous set of facts set out in the criminal complaint. The defendant is clearly a tremendous threat to our community. She's frankly a public menace at the age of only 19 years old."

Young has two drug possession cases pending in Dane County court.

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