Source: Gilbert Flores / Getty
The Real Housewives of Potomac (RHOP) star Karen Huger has been sentenced to two years in prison, with one year suspended for her 2024 DUI crash and arrest. As previously reported, the Bravo star was found guilty on all charges related to the case, except for reckless driving, in December 2024.
Per PEOPLE, on Feb. 26, the 61-year-old reality TV star appeared in Montgomery County Circuit Court where she was handed down the unfortunate sentence by Judge Terrence McGann for crashing her 2017 Maserati and veering off the road, striking several traffic signs, on March 19, 2024. The Maryland socialite attended the hearing with her husband, Raymond Huger, who was also present when she was arrested during the incident.
A source close to the Grand Dame shared with PEOPLE that as the peach holder was being taken into custody, Huger told her husband, “You will be alright” and that “God’s got you.” Huger will have 30 days to appeal the judge’s decision and 90 days to ask the judge to reconsider his order.
Although her legal team sought a 6-month sentence, the court rejected the request for leniency, citing the incident as her fourth DUI offense, Bossip noted. Huger’s attorneys planned to request a sentence that prioritized rehabilitation over jail time, The Washington Post added.
Huger wanted the judge to go lightly on her DUI sentence
Source: Rodin Eckenroth / Getty
A few days before her sentencing, Huger and her law team requested a fair ruling from court officials. According toIn Touch Weekly, in a motion filed earlier this week by her newly retained attorneys, David A. Martella and Barry Helfand, the Bravolebrity stated that the emotional toll of losing both of her parents, coupled with her heavy reliance on antidepressants, contributed to the incident in which she crashed her vehicle last year.
“Ms. Huger’s mother died on Thanksgiving morning in 2017 of kidney failure and sepsis,” the filing stated. “Her father died seven months later on June 28, 2018, from the complications of Alzheimer’s and ‘of a broken heart.’ Those two losses, in quick succession, were for Ms. Huger, personally devastating and, in her opinion, may have been the straws that broke her back, arguably leading to several errors in judgment that led to her arrest in this case.”
Although Huger had long denied being under the influence of alcohol during the incident, the 61-year-old confessed that she had gone to dinner with a friend and had a glass of champagne on the evening of the crash, just hours after taking her prescribed antidepressants. Huger revealed that she was prescribed the medication following a sexual assault incident during her college years.
Initially, she thought she could consume alcohol in “moderation” while using the medication, even as the “dosages of the medication went up” over time.
“‘I was taking one pill after the assault and then I began taking two after my parents’ death. I appeared to be in control and had no noticeable issues that I was aware of,’” Huger stated in the new motion.
However, after seeing the viral bodycam footage in which she was captured slurring her words and being combative with officers at the scene of her March 2024 crash, Huger immediately checked herself into a rehabilitation center in Florida with the hope of healing. She was treated for alcohol abuse, overreliance on antidepressants, and trauma connected to her sexual assault.
It’s unclear if the reality TV star will return to RHOP after this latest news.
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