A former bishop is to jailed for ten years after pleading guilty to manslaughter and drunken driving in an incident in which she killed a cyclist.

Under an agreement with prosecutors, the state will ask a Baltimore Circuit Court judge next month to sentence Heather Cook to 10 years in prison.

Cook, then a newly installed bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, struck 41-year-old Tom Palermo on December 27 in a bike lane near her North Baltimore home. Her blood-alcohol content level was 0.22 per cent, while Maryland’s limit is 0.08 per cent.

Cook, 58, entered her pleas the day before her trial was scheduled to start. She pleaded guilty to automobile manslaughter, leaving the scene of a fatal accident, driving while intoxicated and texting while driving.

Cook resigned from her post as bishop shortly after charges were filed, and the Episcopal Church revoked her clergy credentials.