Court Upholds Vehicular Homicide Conviction In Rapides Parish

ALEXANDRIA, La. (AP) — A state appellate court has upheld the Rapides Parish conviction of a driver who ran a stop sign in 2008, hitting another car and killing a woman and her unborn baby.

District Attorney James Downs says 58-year-old Paul David Heider was convicted in a bench trial of vehicular homicide in the 2007 death of Angela Cohen and third-degree feticide of Cohen's unborn child.

The Town Talk reports Judge Thomas Yeager sentenced Heider to two consecutive five-year jail terms, meaning Heider's stay in prison would be up to 10 years.

Heider appealed. He contended that the expert witness -- who testified Heider was high on marijuana at the time of the accident -- was wrong.

Appeals judges rejected Heider's argument.

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