CHARLESTON (MCT) — A woman who admitted causing an accident that killed three girls last year still tried to deflect some of the blame onto someone else, a judge said Tuesday.

Sandra M. Ross claimed it was only because another woman needed a ride and was in a hurry that she was driving the way she was at the time of the accident, Circuit Judge James Glenn said.

The judge sentenced Ross to nine years in prison for causing the deaths of siblings Harley Jo Madigan, 15, Tanisha Madigan, 12, and Keisha Person, 3, all of Mattoon.

“She is taking some responsibility but is also placing some blame on someone else,” Glenn said. He added that it was “telling” that there were accounts that Ross asked that police not be called after the accident when “there were dead bodies thrown about.”

In addition to speeding and other reckless driving, another factor that weighed against Ross was that she didn’t have a driver’s license, Glenn said. Ross was originally charged with driving without a license but that was dismissed when she agreed to plead guilty to other charges.

Ross, 28, of Mattoon pleaded guilty in July to charges of aggravated driving under the influence. The van she was driving on the morning of June 1, 2011, spun out of control when she passed another vehicle, then hit a grain truck driven by Jordan Pollard on Illinois 316 west of Charleston; others in the van were injured.

The charges accused her of having marijuana in her system at the time of the accident. Ross testified Tuesday that she only used the drug once, smoking it two days before, and she wasn’t impaired when the accident took place. However, the charges accused her of having “any amount” of marijuana in her system at the time.

During her testimony Tuesday, Ross said she agreed to drive Reda Wilson, the mother of the girls who were killed, to Charleston to make a required court appearance. Wilson said she couldn’t find anyone else to take her and she’d be arrested if she didn’t appear in court, Ross said.

“I didn’t want to see anybody behind bars,” she said.

On the way, Wilson repeatedly urged Ross to hurry, she said. She acknowledged that she was speeding and said after she passed the car she didn’t remember what happened “until I woke up in a cornfield.”

In a statement to Glenn, Ross apologized for causing the accident and said she’s learned from what she did.

“I am taking all the blame for this,” she said. “I would do anything to get the girls back.”

Ross had been free on bond but was taken into custody at the end of Tuesday’s hearing. State law requires that she serve at least 85 percent of the sentence before she’ll be eligible for parole.

Ross also must pay just more than $27,000 in restitution to Pollard, for damage to the truck, loss of income and medical expenses.