UH student Marshall Schoen is facing charges of intoxicated manslaughter and will remain in jail without bail, District Judge Mary Lou Keel said Wednesday.
If found guilty, he could face up to 20 years in prison.
The alleged drunk driver who hit two students last week attended his first preliminary hearing Wednesday.
On Saturday night, one of the victims, Mark Tartaglio, died after he was hit by Schoen. The other victim, Corina Burnett, has been released from Memorial Hermann with minor injuries, but will be re-evaluated by a second doctor, prosecutor Alison Baimbridge said.
Tartaglio was walking Burnett, his girlfriend, home from a Greek sorority date party outside of Bayou Oaks on Calhoun Road early Friday morning. The two were struck by a F-350 white pickup after the driver veered into the opposite lane to get ahead of another car.
Tartaglio was a construction management sophomore at UH and a member of Kappa Alpha fraternity. A GoFundMe page was created to cover the medical expenses for the students and has raised more than $21,000 in the past five days.
Schoen, a UH student and a member of Pi Kappa Phi, was charged with driving with an invalid license, but his case was forfeited after he failed to appear in court last November.
Schoen told the judge he had one mixed drink and three beers before he took the wheel. His blood sample has been taken and the results are pending, Baimbridge said. The prosecutor added that Schoen could face charges for Burnett’s injuries.
This seems like a very appropriate response; I can’t believe there are some people on campus sympathizing with him! Max 20 years and no bail is very reasonable for taking another’s life due to his own negligence (AND failing to appear before court the first time).