August 11, 2009 - Ex-Surgeon Gets 30 Years for Fatal Crash

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A former surgeon with a history of drug abuse has been sentenced to 30 years in a Wisconsin prison for a crash that killed a pregnant woman and her daughter.

Mark Benson, 56, said in a brief statement he was "solely responsible" for taking the lives of Jennifer Bukosky, 39, a school administrator and teacher, her daughter Courtney, 10, and the mother's unborn child, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

During a four-hour hearing, members of Bukosky's family asked Waukesha Circuit Judge J. Mac Davis to give Benson the maximum sentence, 53 years.

"Our family is forever locked in a prison that we cannot escape from," Michael Bukosky said, talking about his wife and daughter. "Ours is a sentence of a lifetime without them and constant grief as our companion."

Benson pleaded no contest in June to charges that included vehicular homicide. Investigators said he had traces of Xanax, Ambien and oxycodone in his system at the time of the 2008 crash.

In 2004, Benson surrendered his medical license after authorities said he forged drug prescriptions. He pleaded guilty two days before the crash to driving under the influence and had been ordered not to drive.

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