A former law student apologized for her actions today before she was sentenced today to 7 years in state prison for striking and seriously injuring a man with her car on a street outside a bar near Lake Merritt in Oakland in 2013.
Meghan Zato, 28, could have faced up to 10 years and eight months in state prison for her convictions for assault with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury, two counts of driving under the influence of alcohol and one count of leaving the scene of an accident.
But Alameda County Superior Court Judge Allen Hymer said at a packed and emotional hearing that the maximum possible punishment wouldn’t have been appropriate for Zato because “she has some things going for her,” such as her academic achievements and her lack of a prior criminal record…