Could someone with a bit of Criminal Law knowledge explain the outcome of this case?

[VladmirsPoutine]

I read this article on the Daily Mail for those who don't want to add clicks to the dirt-ridden peddlers of hate:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6244659/Driver-23-grossly-distracted-texting-monkey-emojis-jailed-six-months.html

In short: A 23yo woman was driving and texting behind the wheel - she veered onto the other lane and collided with another car causing the instant death of the other driver. The woman has been jailed for 6 months. In court, the jury cleared her of causing death by dangerous driving after hearing it was impossible to know whether the woman was stationary or driving at the time she was texting, (an odd balance of probabilities in my own opinion, but then again, it's just my opinion.... I can't understand how you can swerve onto another lane and directly collide with someone from a stationary point, but there we go).

So all that said, the judge conceded to sentence her the minimum of 6 months because the woman was remorseful and "a hardworking young woman."

Whilst I'm not advocating that the young woman should spend the rest of her life in penance; why did she not at the very least receive a life-time driving ban? Given that in 6-months or so she'll be able to piece together some semblance of a relatively normal life, there's no escaping the fact that her actions caused the instant death of another person. Is there something else that I'm missing here because to me it seems so incredibly unjust. And yes I know many aspects of society and the world at large are) but I just want to focus specifically on this case.

She was convicted of causing death by careless driving, the maximum sentence is five years. The judge then has to take into account several factors when deciding the actual verdict. It is very unusual to actually get the maximum.
Six months does seem low but I don’t think it is unusual for this type of offence. I wouldnt be happy about it.

That’s outrageous. If you want to get away with murdering someone it always seems that doing it from your car is the best way.. sentences are always so bloody light

From reading the article (it's important to note that only those present for the whole trial know all the facts), it seems that the jury could not be sure that she was actually sending texts whilst she was driving, which would have constituted dangerous driving. She had already pleaded guilty to the charge of causing death by careless driving, her case being that she was distracted by her phone beeping/lighting up when receiving a message, causing her to swerve.

There are sentencing guidelines for causing death by careless driving. The mist serious category is where the driving falls just short of dangerous driving. The sentence starting point then would be 15-months imprisonment, with a range of 36-weeks to 3-years.

The least serious category is a case of momentary inattention with no other aggravating features. The sentence then would be a community order.

The middle category is for all other cases. The starting point then is 36-weeks imprisonment, with a range of a high level community order up to 2-years imprisonment.

It seems like the judge thought this case fell into that middle category, so the judge took a starting point of 36-weeks imprisonment. The defendant had pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving, so would have been entitled to credit for that guilty plea, so that's a third off 36 weeks. The judge would have also considered any other aggravating or mitigating features (previous convictions if there were any, remorse, etc) before arriving at 6-months.

There is a minimum mandatory driving disqualification of 12 months. This will start when she is released from prison.