Did Elderly North Dakota Woman Guilty of Fatal Hit-and-Run Receive A Fair Sentence?

Last year, Amber Rebel was struck and killed by an elderly driver, Bertha Harper. Bertha left the scene because she did not know she hit anyone. Even though she did end up pleading guilty to negligent homicide, she will not spend any time in jail. According to KFYR-TV, Bertha was forced to surrender her license and vehicle. She will reportedly serve two years of unsupervised probation.

When Amber was hit, it was reported that, among other traumatic injuries, both of her femurs were broken and her pelvis was shattered. After fighting for her life for 12 days, Amber lost her life. After Bertha was identified and located, KFYR-TV reported that there were blue jean fibers from Amber's jeans in Bertha's front passenger sidewall tire, but that she was unaware that she even hit anyone.

This whole story is tragic for everyone involved, but is Bertha's sentence fair? A person lost their life because of Bertha's serious misjudgment. She ran over Amber and then left her on the ground to die. Squeaky-clean, law-abiding, elderly citizen or not, she ran over someone and then left.

According to the State of North Dakota (Century Code 39-08-04), Bertha committed a felony by leaving Amber. Bertha certainly does have to live with the guilt of the death she caused. But is that justice, or should she have been ordered to spend some time in jail?

Do you feel that Bertha's sentence is fair or should she have received a harsher punishment for the hit-and-run?