Patch.com reported on a woman that, after pleading guilty to charges including gross vehicular manslaughter, faces twelve years in prison for a DUI-related crash that killed her husband and injured two others.
The 69-year-old woman, accused of drunkenly causing a head-on collision near Desert Hot Springs, pleaded guilty to multiple felony charges on Friday, September 25, including DUI gross vehicular manslaughter, driving under the influence of alcohol causing bodily injury, and driving with a blood-alcohol content exceeding the legal limit of .08 percent causing bodily injury, along with several sentence-enhancing allegations. According to a spokesperson for the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, she faces a maximum sentence of twelve and ⅔ years in a California state prison, and the DA’s office confirmed her plea was through the court, not through a deal with the DA.
The crash in question occurred on April 16, 2019, on Mountain View Road near Club House Drive. A post-accident breathalyzer measured her blood-alcohol content at .13, significantly higher than the .08 BAC allowable under California law. She admitted to having drank at lunch about three hours before the crash, according to the arrest warrant prepared by the California Highway Patrol after the accident. Two people in the other car suffered varying levels of injury as well.
