On July 8, 2025, Gwendolyn Persina, aged 49, of Chester, Maryland, was sentenced to 3 years of incarceration to the Division of Corrections, with all but 315 days suspended, which is the time Ms. Persina has served in jail from the time of her arrest. Ms. Persina received this sentence as a result of her conviction for Causing a Life-Threatening Injury to Another While Operating a Motor Vehicle While Under the Influence of Alcohol. This was the most serious charge that Ms. Persina was charged with and the maximum penalty for the offense is Three Years in jail and a $5,000.00 Fine. Persina was also sentenced to Five years of supervised probation, ordered to have a mental health evaluation and complete any recommended treatment, to abstain from alcohol and drugs, to get an alcohol evaluation and complete any recommended treatment.
Persina pled guilty before the Honorable Lynn Knight in the Queen Anne’s County Circuit Court by way of a best interests or Alford guilty plea, by not admitting guilt but by acknowledging that the State had sufficient evidence that she could be found guilty of the charge. The case was prosecuted by Lance G. Richardson, State’s Attorney for Queen Anne’s County, assisted by Carolynn Grammas, Assistant State’s Attorney from Anne Arundel County, appointed as a special prosecutor for the case. The sentence fell within the recommended sentence range as calculated by the Maryland Sentencing Guidelines, which recommended a sentence ranging from six months to three years of active incarceration. Sentencing guidelines are not mandatory or binding upon a judge but following them is strongly encouraged by the legislature to ensure consistency in sentencing throughout the State of Maryland.
Mr. Persina’s conviction was based upon her actions on January 27, 2024, at approximately 7:46 am when she was operating a Honda Civic passenger vehicle at a high rate of speed in heavy fog traveling westbound on the Bay Bridge on the Queen Anne’s County portion of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge when she rear-ended another vehicle, which disabled her vehicle in the travel portion of the bridge. This resulted in an immediate twenty-three vehicle chain reaction collision on the bridge. During the chain reaction collision an adult male passenger victim had his arm severed from his body. His arm was unable to be saved or medically reattached. Fortunately, an off-duty Maryland State Trooper, an off-duty Maryland State Fire Marshal, and an off-duty Prince Georges County Police Officer were on the Bay Bridge when the accident occurred, and all began assisting with medical treatment including applying a tourniquet to stop a victim’s profuse bleeding until paramedics arrived and ultimately transported the individual to Shock Trauma. Ms. Persina also suffered serious injuries in the collision and was transported to the hospital. While she was in the hospital a blood sample was drawn and later tested by the Maryland State Police Forensic Science Lab. The Chief Toxicologist, Dr. Haley Mulder, tested Ms. Persina’s blood sample and was able to scientifically determine that at the time of the collision Ms. Persina’s blood alcohol content was between .24 and .27 g/100 ml of ethanol. The legal limit for a person to be considered Under the Influence of Alcohol in Maryland is .08. Ms. Persina’s blood alcohol content was three times greater than the legal limit.
Although the accident occurred on January 27, 2024, Ms. Persina wasn’t criminally charged until August of 2024. The delay in formally charging Ms. Persina was due to the incredible amount of vehicle data that had to be reviewed for the more than twenty vehicles involved. Medical records also had to be obtained and then the large volume of records had to be reviewed. In addition, a large volume of other evidence, and information from witnesses, had to be reviewed and analyzed. All of this investigative information took months to be collected and examined. Once Ms. Persina was formally charged, she was arrested and held without bail. Her attorneys ultimately filed a notice of incompetency to stand trial due to her inability to assist in her defense and/or an inability to understand the nature of the proceedings. Experts from both the State and the defense examined Ms. Persina. After many delays, the State Doctor from the Maryland Department of Health deemed Ms. Persina competent to stand trial on July 2, 2025.
Ms. Persina then pled guilty on July 8th. State’s Attorney Richardson thanked and praised the excellent investigation conducted by the Maryland Transportation Authority Police Department and the lead collision reconstruction expert Senior Officer Steven Barzal. Assistant State’s Attorney Carolynn Grammas of the Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s Office graciously volunteered to assist in the prosecution. Richardson stated “Ms. Grammas is the best of the best. Her knowledge, experience, and expertise in serious vehicular crime cases was invaluable to the State’s Attorney’s Office for Queen Anne’s County and she was crucial in obtaining this very favorable outcome. I am deeply indebted to her for her dedication and assistance.” The Office of the Public Defender represented Ms. Persina.