Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

Mary Elizabeth Bowen is comforted by friends and family after being sentenced at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Christiansburg. Bowen was driving under the influence while text messaging when her SUV struck a group of people on a sidewalk.

CHRISTIANSBURG -- A former Virginia Tech student who was convicted earlier this year of maiming three people while driving under the influence and while texting spoke publicly Wednesday for the first time, apologizing in court to the people she hurt.

Mary Elizabeth Bowen, 21, turned to one of the people she struck with her sport utility vehicle early the morning of June 16, 2007, and began to sob.

"I want to apologize," she said to Larry Elkins, who suffered cuts on his legs and developed blood clots. "I'm so sorry. You have no idea how much I regret this."

Bowen said "it kills her" that she wasn't hurt but so many other people were when she crashed her Toyota RAV4 about 2 a.m. into a crowd of people in front of Big Al's Grille & Sports Bar in Blacksburg.

After listening to Bowen, who was the last of six people to testify at her sentencing hearing, Circuit Court Judge Ray Grubbs recessed the court to think about her sentence. After 30 minutes, he returned, ordering her to serve one year and 10 days of a seven-year sentence.

"I don't doubt for a moment that your remorse is sincere ... but there is certain conduct for which an apology is not sufficient," he told her.

Grubbs sentenced Bowen to two years on each of three convictions of maiming while driving under the influence, suspended after she serves one year, and 12 months on the DUI conviction, suspended after she serves an additional 10 days. He allowed her to report to jail in Winchester, her hometown, in a week.

After her release from jail, Bowen will be on supervised probation for three years, Grubbs ruled. He revoked her driver's license indefinitely.

After Grubbs announced her sentence and adjourned court for the day, Bowen grabbed her stomach and began sobbing uncontrollably.

Bowen's blood alcohol content shortly after the crash was 0.20 percent, more than twice the legal limit for a 21-year-old driver. She was only 20 and told an officer that she was sending a text message on her cellphone when she swerved onto the sidewalk.

At least eight people were treated for injuries.

Three of them, James Satterwhite III, Ashley McDaniel and Elkins, testified at Bowen's trial in April. Each of them has suffered some permanent damage, including scarring.

At that hearing, McDaniel testified that she suffered a broken clavicle and two fractured bones in her lower back. She lost range of motion in her right arm and has trouble putting on jackets, she said.

That apparently stuck with Bowen, who testified Wednesday that she thinks of McDaniel every time she puts on a jacket.

McDaniel and Satterwhite submitted written statements about how their lives have been affected, Assistant Montgomery County Commonwealth's Attorney Patrick Jensen said. Elkins was the only victim to take the witness stand. He read his statement aloud.

"I was not given a choice whether to take part in this incident at all," he read.

He said the first few hours after the incident were "scary and anxious" as he and others waited to find out how serious their own injuries and everyone else's injuries were.

Elkins' injuries caused him to miss a final exam, setting him behind in school. He also missed work and therefore pay, he said.

Four people testified on Bowen's behalf, including her boss, a co-worker, a member of her church and her brother-in-law.

While Bowen was on the stand, her defense attorney, Mark Kidd, played a videotape of a presentation she did for a group of teenagers.

She told the teens to imagine standing on a sidewalk talking to a friend when the friend suddenly flies through the air and lands bloody and unconscious. She told them to imagine realizing their friend had been struck by a drunken driver.

"Well, I was that driver," she told them in what was one of several presentations she has made to groups since her arrest. "I had three hours of fun one night that might end up costing me 16 years of my life."

Bowen described to the teens how she had good grades, an upcoming internship at WDBJ (Channel 7), a good job and a fun social life. But after the crash, she was kicked out of Virginia Tech for two years, became a convicted felon and is being sued for more than $7 million in damages by five of the people she struck.

Kidd asked the judge to consider ordering Bowen to continue giving the presentations rather than sentence her to jail time. He said he felt like her speeches would be more of a deterrence to others who might drink and drive.