Heather Cook, the former Suffragan Bishop of Maryland, is scheduled for her first parole hearing of her sentence for the manslaughter of a cyclist during a drunk-driving incident in December 2014.
The Baltimore Brew reports,
Cook, 60, who has been incarcerated at the Maryland Correctional Institute in Jessup, is scheduled to appear before the Parole Board on May 9, according to a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS).
Cook had been sentenced on October 27, 2015, to seven years in prison for the crash, which claimed the life of Thomas Palermo, a married father of two who had been out riding his bike two days after Christmas.
Cook pleaded guilt to vehicular manslaughter, leaving the scene of a fatal accident, driving while under the influence and texting while driving.
A Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services spokesman told the Baltimore Brew that Cook is eligible for parole after 25% of her sentence, because her offence is considered non-violent.
In May 2015, in two separate actions, Cook resigned her position as Suffragan Bishop of Maryland, and agreed to an accord under which she was deposed by the Presiding Bishop, removing her authority to function as an ordained minister of the Episcopal Church.
Read more at the Baltimore Brew.