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A jury Monday sentenced the daughter of a Harris County judge to eight years probation and fined her $10,000 for the intoxication manslaughter death of her 19-year-old boyfriend.

By law, 20-year-old Elizabeth Shelter must serve 120 days in jail before her probation begins.

If she fails to meet the terms of the probation, she will be sent to prison for five years.

The sentence came just hours after a jury convicted Shelton.

As the guilty verdict was read, Shelton remained stoic. Her family was visibly shaken.

Lawyers for Shelton, 20, did not deny that she was drunk when she crashed her SUV into the back of a box truck on the Southwest Freeway last year. They blamed the accident on the truck driver, saying he made an illegal lane change.

The truck driver denied the allegations, and ultimately the jury didn’t buy it.

Shelton's boyfriend, Matthew McNiese, 19, was killed instantly in the crash and nearly beheaded.

Witnesses said he was hanging out of the SUV's window before the crash.

Tests showed Shelton's blood alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit that night.

“The jury obviously did the right thing in assuring that this young woman go home with her mom and dad, get back in school,” Defense Attorney George “Mac” Secrest said.

Prosecutor Paul Doyle said the case sends valuable message.

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Elizabeth Shelton

“If you drive drunk and you kill somebody and that death is because of intoxication, you’re going to be held responsible in Harris County,” Doyle said.

Witnesses testified that Shelton cursed at the ER nurse who was taking her blood at the hospital after the crash. She told the nurse that her father, Pat Shelton, was a judge.

Shelton will be allowed to finish out the semester at the University of St. Thomas before reporting to jail the day after her last final on December 20.

She could have received up to 20 years in prison for the crime.