An ASU student was sentenced to 18 months probation at the Maricopa County Superior Court Thursday for fleeing the scene of a fatal accident in September 2005.
The charge was originally a felony, but sophomore Reem Bishara was allowed to plead guilty to a reduced misdemeanor on June 2.
Judge Richard Gama also ordered a federal immigration hearing, scheduled for today, which will settle the status of Bishara's student visa. She faces the possibility of deportation back to her home country of Kuwait.
Bishara told The Arizona Republic that she doesn't mind returning to Kuwait, but she feels the blame for the accident has been put unjustly on her.
"They took their anger out on whoever was there, and that was me," she said in an article in The Arizona Republic. "I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong person."
This was the second charge against Bishara in relation to the hit-and-run accident that resulted in the death of 35-year-old Mesa resident Todd DeGain.
Bishara was also found guilty of underage drinking in March and sentenced to a one year probation, community service and alcohol counseling.
The 20-year-old geography major was allegedly out drinking with fellow Kuwaiti and ASU student Muneerah Al-Tarrah on the night of Sept. 13, 2005.
The two women were driving in separate cars in the early hours of Sept. 14 when Al-Tarrah reportedly hit DeGain, who was riding a motorized scooter illegally in the street, according to police. DeGain was also reportedly high on methamphetamine.
One witness testified that he saw Bishara's Ford Mustang and Al-Tarrah's Jeep Cherokee stop at the scene and that he heard two people have a disagreement before both vehicles drove away.
And though Bishara allegedly ran over parts of DeGain's scooter, she has maintained that she did not realize Al-Tarrah had hit DeGain.
Al-Tarrah, a graduate student, was convicted of DUI, extreme DUI and leaving the scene of a fatal accident on April 26 in a trial she never attendend. Al-Tarrah fled to Kuwait in January.
Reach the reporter at steven.bohner@asu.edu.
