The 23-year-old Spring woman who drove the wrong direction on I-45 and killed two teenagers in a deadly head-on collision has plead guilty to intoxication manslaughter.
In a Montgomery County criminal court, prosecutors unveiled surveillance footage of Nicole Baukus drinking 17 shots and four beers with friends at On The Rox sports bar in The Woodlands. After four-and-a-half hours of drinking, the then-22-year-old stumbled to her black pickup truck and proceeded to travel north on the southbound lanes of I-45.
An hour after the horrific accident that killed 19-year-old driver Nicole Adams and her 18-year-old passenger Travis Sanders, police measured Baukus' blood-alcohol at more than three times the legal limit. In April, On The Rox agreed to a $1-million settlement with the families of the two victims as well as lone survivor David Porras.
Baukus entered a plea of guilty on Thursday after struggling to maintain her composure all week. On Wednesday, she wept so loudly at the times that the judge called a recess and scolded her for the outbursts.
A toxicologist with the Houston Police Department also testified that, on the night of the crash, Baukus' blood contained amounts of Valium and the anti-anxiety sedative Nordiazepam.
According to legal documents, she faces upwards of 60 years in prison on two counts of intoxication manslaughter and another for intoxication assault. The trial is now continuing with the sentencing phase.
Watch the surveillance footage on KHOU Ch. 11:
Baukus in June 2012
