OCEAN COUNTY — A Beachwood man has been sentenced to five years in state prison for a 2023 drunken driving crash that killed a Browns Mills woman, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer announced Friday.
John Zinkoski, 41, was sentenced Aug. 8 by Superior Court Judge David M. Fritch after pleading guilty to vehicular homicide in April. The sentence is subject to the No Early Release Act, requiring him to serve at least 85% before parole consideration.
At sentencing, Zinkoski also pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated, resulting in a seven-month license suspension.
Authorities said that around 5:50 p.m. May 12, 2023, Zinkoski was driving a Nissan Frontier south on Pinehurst Road when he struck a Volvo XC6 driven by Judi Smith, 59, as she turned onto Pinehurst from Long Swamp Road. Smith was critically injured and later died at Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus in Lakewood.
Investigators said Zinkoski’s blood alcohol concentration was over the legal limit and tests showed the presence of cocaine and benzodiazepine. His vehicle was traveling at an average of 86 mph at the time of the crash.
A warrant for Zinkoski’s arrest was issued in August 2023. He surrendered to the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office later that month and was released under New Jersey bail reform before his guilty plea.
Billhimer credited Chief Assistant Prosecutor Robert Cassidy, Senior Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Heisler, the Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit-Vehicular Homicide Squad, Plumsted Township Police Department, and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit for their work on the case.
