No-contest plea in deadly head-on crash
Lab reports show the driver was under the influence of meth
A woman involved in a head-on collision that killed two men in July entered a plea Wednesday.
Rachel Hawkins, 32, pleaded no contest to two counts of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. She is scheduled for sentencing Nov. 19 and is facing up to 12 years in prison.
Around 5:30 a.m. July 24, Hawkins collided headon with a vehicle carrying two men on North Beale Road, west of College View Drive. Abel Lopez, 51, and Felix Carbahal-manjarez, 67, both of Yuba City, died at the scene.
Hawkins was taken to Rideout Memorial Hospital with major injuries and was arrested.
She allegedly admitted to police her heavy drug use prior to driving, according to court documents, and on July 31 Hawkins allegedly tried to flee custody by coordinating with her brother to remove her from the hospital. She succeeded in exiting Rideout, but was apprehended in the parking lot, according to court documents.
In August, she was charged additionally with two counts of murder. District Attorney Pat Mcgrath said at the time that preliminary information “does not exclude the probability that Hawkins intentionally drove her SUV into the opposite lane of traffic” and into the path of the victims’ car.
In an email Thursday, Deputy District Attorney John Vacek said the murder charges could not be sustained by the evidence and that intent to kill is normally an element of the charge that could not be established in the case. Vacek said he believes there was a relatively prompt resolution in the case because the evidence was so clear-cut.
“CHP had done a thorough investigation and a complete report that was pretty compelling and the lab reports conclusively established that Ms. Hawkins was under the influence of methamphetamine,” Vacek wrote. Main number .................... Steve Miller ......................
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