The woman accused of killing Sara Burack in a hit-and-run crash in Hampton Bays, New York, has spoken out for the first time.
Amanda Kempton, who was arrested on Friday, June 20, made her first court appearance on Saturday, June 21, pleading not guilty to the felony charge of leaving the scene of a fatal motor vehicle accident, according to the New York Post.
Kempton’s lawyer told the court that the woman believed she had hit a traffic cone during the incident, and that alcohol was not a factor in the case, according to the outlet.
According to the New York Post, the marine biologist was emotional as prosecutor MacDonald Drane requested that the judge increase her bail because she had allegedly fled the scene of the crime and was due to return to Virginia for a wedding on June 21.
The prosecutor also claimed Kempton, 32, spent time at a tavern prior to the hit-and-run incident, according to the outlet.
Leaving the scene of a car accident is a class D felony in the state of New York. Kempton could receive up to seven years in prison.
Kempton was released from prison on $100,000 bail, according to the New York Post, which quoted officials during her arraignment. According to the outlet, her family, who live on Long Island, provided collateral in exchange for the money.
On June 21, PEOPLE’s request for comment on the case was not immediately responded to by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office (SCDA) or the Southampton Town Police Department (STPD).
Burack, who appeared in the Netflix series Million Dollar Beach House, died as a result of an alleged hit-and-run on Thursday, June 19, around 2:45 a.m. local time. She was forty.
The real estate agent, a Southampton resident, was discovered unconscious on Montauk Highway near Villa Paul Restaurant, according to authorities. She was found and taken to Stony Brook University Hospital, where she died of her injuries.
According to Greater Long Island, the successful luxury real estate broker previously worked with Nest Seekers International, which has offices in The Hamptons and New York City.
Burack previously told Hamptons.com in 2020 that her “family has a commercial construction material sales business that I spent many years of my life working for,” and that she had “been spending half the year in the Hamptons for the past 11 years.”
She went on: “It was only natural to turn my love for real estate into a blossoming career.”
Million Dollar Beach House premiered on Netflix in 2020.
