Sailor accused in fatal van crash offered plea deal

The state's attorney office has made an offer to resolve the case of a Navy sailor accused of causing the crash that killed a Connecticut College Student Elizabeth Durante in March.

Daniel Musser, 24, learned of the plea offer during a court appearance Monday. He will notify on Jan. 6 whether he accepts or rejects the offer.

Norwich prosecutor Thomas DeLillo and defense attorney Paul F. Chinigo declined to discuss specifics of the offer.

Musser, a Navy machinist's mate from Missouri, was arrested at the scene of the March 7 accident on Interstate 395 and has been held at the Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Institution on a $300,000 bond.

He is charged with second-degree manslaughter with a motor vehicle, second-degree assault with a motor vehicle, first-degree reckless endangerment, driving under the influence, driving the wrong way on a divided highway and driving without minimum insurance.

State police said Musser, who lived on Michelle Lane in Groton, was driving a Honda Accord that struck head-on a van carrying Durante and other students to Boston's Logan International Airport, where they were to board a flight for a humanitarian mission to Uganda.

Durante, 20, a junior from West Islip, Long Island, N.Y., was killed when she was thrown from the van. Seven other students in the van and its driver were treated and released from area hospitals.

Musser told state police he had four or five drinks at the Ultra 88 club at Mohegan Sun over the course of the evening. Troopers at the scene said he had a strong odor of alcohol about him and bloodshot eyes and failed sobriety tests. The results of blood alcohol tests have not been released.

According to state police, Musser left the casino shortly after 3:30 a.m. and became confused when he tried to enter Route 2A. Instead of getting on the westbound lanes of Route 2A, Musser drove his car onto the eastbound side of the highway and headed west to the interstate, which he accessed by driving the wrong way down the Interstate 395 off-ramp.