Marblehead woman pleads guilty in motor vehicle homicide

A Marblehead woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to a motor vehicle homicide charge, resolving a case in which her car backed over and killed an owning family member at the Byfield Greenhouse and Garden Center last May, Essex County District Attorney Paul F. Tucker announced.

Janet Bach, 71, of Girdler Road, Marblehead, was sentenced to 18 months in the Middleton House of Correction, with the sentence suspended while she serves three years of probation. During that time, she is ordered not to drive, and stay away from all witnesses and victims.

She also will lose her license for 15 years, and was ordered to pay court fees and reimburse $8,700 in funeral expenses for the victim, Susan Sforza Nico, 47, of Seabrook, N.H.

In addition, Judge Peter Doyle ordered Bach to perform 200 hours of community service.

The Commonwealth had sought a 2 ½-year sentence, suspended during a three-year probationary period. Bach’s attorney, John Morris of Salem, requested two years of probation, with no possibility of jail time.

Sforza Nico, a stepmother of two and the greenhouse manager, was working at a cashier stand when she was struck by Bach’s Honda CRV.

It lurched into reverse and smashed through a greenhouse wall on May 22, 2022.

A 57-year-old man and 8-year-old girl also were hospitalized with serious injuries after the crash, while two others suffered lesser injuries.

The Sforza family permanently closed the greenhouse following the crash.