Attorneys for the 16-year-old girl who, police say, was involved in the drunken-driving crash that killed 17-year-old Samara Stricklen asked the public Thursday to keep an open mind about the case.
“As the investigation ensues, we ask that there not be a rush to judgment concerning what happened that fateful night,” said the statement, issued by attorney Jim Castle. “We also ask that the Lakewood Police Department keep an open mind concerning their investigation and refrain from statements to the press designed to prejudice the public and potential jurors. ”
Castle declined to discuss whether his client was driving under the influence.
According to police, Stricklen was riding in a sedan driven by a friend, 20-year-old Seth Mutschler, when they were struck head-on by the driver of a sport utility vehicle on March 13. The driver of the SUV, a student at Green Mountain High School, is suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash, police said.
Charges are expected to be filed against the girl on Tuesday, according to the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office.
The statement by the girl’s attorney also offers condolences to the families of Stricklen and Mutschler, who was critically injured.
More local news briefs
ERIE
Guilty plea from mom who gave wine to boy
An Erie mother who was charged with child abuse after her 17-month-old son got drunk on wine pleaded guilty Thursday.
Lisa Shattuck pleaded guilty to one count of misdemeanor child abuse, Boulder district attorney’s spokeswoman Carolyn French said.
Shattuck received an 18- month deferred sentence, meaning that if she stays out of trouble with the law and cooperates with Department of Social Services requests during that time, she won’t face a more severe punishment.
Shattuck, 38, took her son to the emergency room in October after he became extremely sick.
Police said the toddler had a blood-alcohol level of 0.195.
Shattuck told police her son accidentally drank some wine she had left sitting out.
COMMERCE CITY
Woman killed when motorcycle hit by car
A Denver woman was killed Thursday in Commerce City when the motorcycle she was riding was struck from behind and pushed into a car, officials say.
Christiane Lee Williams, 40, was traveling north in the 8700 block of Tower Road when she slowed for a red light and was struck by a red Ford Explorer, said Lt. Chuck Saunier, Commerce City police spokesman.
Williams’ motorcycle then crashed into a 2005 Pontiac Sunfire, Saunier said.
Authorities do not believe alcohol or drugs were involved.
GOLDEN
ID-theft ringleader sentenced to 20 years
The leader of an identity theft and forgery ring has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, Jefferson County District Attorney Scott Storey said Thursday.
It was the fourth felony conviction for 26-year-old Naomi Jo Behunin, and all of the convictions have been related to theft, forgery and drugs, Storey said.
Behunin pleaded guilty to violation of the Organized Crime Control Act, a Class 2 felony, on Feb. 5.
She was one of five women and two men indicted by a Jefferson County grand jury for racketeering in September 2006.
Each was charged with participating in a criminal enterprise that operated throughout the Denver metro area but primarily in Jefferson County, Storey said.
Three of the remaining defendants have pleaded guilty to theft or conspiracy to commit theft and were sentenced to four- to five-year prison terms.
Three others are still in the court system and are contesting their charges or awaiting sentencing, Storey said.
Each defendant was charged with having some degree of involvement in a criminal enterprise that stole personal and financial information, often from a Dumpster or the Internet, and then created false identifications and checks, Storey said.
The proceeds from the stolen identities were often used for the purchase of methamphetamine, he said.
LOUISVILLE
Mom in assault case had ties to 2nd teen
A woman accused of conceiving two children with an underage boy was separated at the time from a man whom she had married when he was 18, according to court records.
Irene Marie Gomez, now 38, was arrested last week on suspicion of sexual assault.
Authorities said she had conceived one child with the boy when he was 13 and another when he was 16.
Their relationship began in 2001, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Gomez had married another teen in July 2000 when she was 31 and he was 18, according to court records cited by the Daily Camera of Boulder in Thursday’s editions.
They separated less than a month later and divorced in March 2006, the newspaper reported.
According to the affidavit, Gomez told police that the father of the children claimed he was 18 when they met.
She said she learned he was a 13-year-old runaway six months later, when she was pregnant with their first child, but decided to continue the relationship, according to the affidavit.
Gomez faces charges of sexual assault and sexual assault on a child, police said.
She was released from the Boulder County jail on $2,500 bond and has a court appearance scheduled for today.
BOULDER
2nd student charged in alleged bias assault
One of two University of Colorado students arrested in an alleged assault on two gay men was charged in Boulder County Court on Thursday with second- degree assault and participating in a bias-motivated crime.
Adam Michael Perez, 21, would face a mandatory five- year prison sentence on the assault charge if convicted.
The other suspect, Eric Shorling, 21, was charged Wednesday with a bias-motivated crime.
Police accuse the suspects of making hateful comments to the two victims on March 11, resulting in a fight.
