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A drunk driver was sentenced to seven years behind bars for fatally plowing down a college student and seriously injuring another in Texas in 2023 — and must return to jail for 15 days annually, including Christmas, her birthday and the victims’ birthdays, for a decade after she’s released.
Lynlee Pollis, 30, was convicted of intoxication manslaughter and intoxication assault for killing Southern Methodist University student Honor Wallace and leaving the college student’s pal Catherine “CeCe” Solberg seriously injured in a drunken crash in Dallas in September 2023, The Dallas Morning News reported.
In addition to being locked up for seven years, Pollis must serve 10 years of probation after her release and must report to jail for 15 days each year she’s on probation, State District Judge Jennifer Balido ordered.
The 15 days include the three days around both Wallace’s and Solberg’s birthdays, Pollis’ own birthday, Christmas and the date of the tragic drunken collision.
“You were so drunk and you wouldn’t admit it,” Solberg’s father Bobby said to Pollis during his victim impact statement. “You made us sit through this [trial] for three weeks.”
“We’ve seen no personal accountability from you,” he fumed.
Wallace’s father echoed similar sentiments when it was his turn, slamming Pollis’ “selfishness.”
“You took the most precious gift from us through your selfishness,” David Wallace said. “Own it. Own what you did.”
Pollis’ sentence was handed down Wednesday after the jury deliberated for around three hours at the end of an emotional two-and-a-half-week trial.
The reckless driver was speeding at 67 mph in a 35 mph zone through a red traffic light in Dallas when she slammed into Wallace and Solberg’s vehicle, the outlet previously reported.
Wallace, 19, was pronounced dead at the hospital, and Solberg, who was in the passenger seat, was left with a broken collarbone and traumatic brain injury.
A friend of the college students emotionally testified to the horror of seeing Solberg at the hospital in a neck brace covered in Wallace’s blood.
“I couldn’t get the sight of all that blood out of my mind,” Haley Keller said. “Wherever I looked, I saw Honor’s blood all over CeCe.”
Pollis suffered a fractured ankle and a bump on her forehead. She had her dog, a husky named Tequila, in the car with her, but the pup was unharmed.
“This was no accident. This was no mistake,” prosecutor Andrew James said during closing arguments. “It was predictable consequences of the defendant’s choices.”
Blood tests showed Pollis had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.294% hours after the crash — nearly four times the legal limit for driving in Texas.
However, Pollis’ defense attorneys agreed that she was speeding and ran a red light but argued she was not drunk and that the blood alcohol evidence was unreliable because of issues with how it was collected, stored and tested.
Her defense team asked the jury to give the now 30-year-old probation because she had no prior felony convictions — but James argued probation was “completely inappropriate” given her reckless actions.
“Prison is where you put the worst of the worst,” defense attorney Scott Palmer said in his closing argument.
“She is a good person who made a terrible decision. She is going to live in that hell for the rest of her life.”