LEESBURG, Va. — An owner of candy company Mars pleaded guilty Thursday to reckless driving but will not serve jail time for causing a crash that killed an 86-year-old woman.
Jacqueline Badger Mars, 74, one of the world’s richest women, was instead sentenced to a $2,500 fine after victims of the crash and family members pleaded with the judge to forgo a jail sentence, saying they had forgiven Mars.
Irene Ellisor of Huntsville, Texas, was riding in a minivan during the afternoon of Oct. 4 when it was struck head-on by Mars’s Porsche SUV. The minivan’s driver, Ashley Blakeslee, was eight months pregnant. Her unborn child died.