Nassau County mother sentenced for fatal crash: 5 things to know

RELATED: Details revealed about Nassau County woman's actions before fatal crash 

A Nassau County woman who pled guilty to a 2016 fatal DUI crash was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in prison.

Tonya Capallia-Eason was behind the wheel when her Ford Expedition slammed into a utility pole after leaving a children's Halloween party. Two of her sons, Nehemiah and Nick, died.

Here's five things we learned at the sentencing:

1. Capallia-Eason again admitted fault as she was sentenced to decades behind bars.

“I was supposed to protect them and I didn't," Capallia-Eason said. "I failed. I failed miserably. I was driving and it's 100 percent my fault.”

2. Capallia-Eason was given the maximum sentence. 

Capallia-Eason, who pled guilty, faced a minimum of 10 years. She will get credit for the two years she has already served. Once she is released from prison, she will never be allowed behind the wheel again.

Mom gets 30 years for killing 2 kids in DUI crash Mom gets 30 years for killing 2 kids in DUI crash

3. The boys' father spoke at the sentencing. He was relieved that Capallia-Eason pled guilty and spared the survivors from having to testify. 

Andrew Bird, the father of Nehemiah and Nick, said this in court:

"They will never have the opportunity to grow up and experience life. Never get to learn and try new things. With the memories comes the pain, the heartache, anger, frustration.

"I don't feel that any punishment possible in this world is just enough for my children. That's why I feel like she deserves the full 30 years.

'"She's taken so much. The only justice will come from a higher power than exists here."

4. Capallia-Eason says she doesn't remember the crash. 

According to witnesses, Capallia-Eason was drinking rum at the party and left with the children in her SUV. She drove at a high rate of speed and flipped her Ford Expedition on Lonnie Crews Road.

"I don't remember [the crash] but I was driving,"  Capallia-Eason said. "That was not [an] informed decision. That is not the point. I still should not have been driving."

5. A friend of Capallia-Eason says she is active in Bible study in prison and hopes to have a relationship with her surviving children.

Laura Beasley, a friend of Capallia-Eason's since childhood, said Capallia-Eason is depressed and longs for a relationship with her daughters.

"She has hope that one day when she passes away that her boys are in heaven and she'll see them and so I think that's the only thing that gives her hope," Beasley said.

Cox Media Group