Loveland — A Berthoud teen who accidentally drove into two of her classmates, destroying their legs, pleaded guilty today to careless driving in return for a deferred sentence.
Michelle Berra, 18, agreed to do 48 hours of public service over the next 10 months and attend an “Alive @ 25” defensive-driving class during a hearing at Larimer County Court.
Under the terms of her plea bargain, the charge of careless driving with bodily injury will be dropped after one year if she complies. Any misdemeanor traffic offenses during that time would invalidate the plea and subject her to as much as one year in detention, a fine of $1,000, or both, and four points on her driver’s license.
“The job of a prosecutor is always to seek justice and to see that the right thing is done,” Joshua Ritter, deputy district attorney of the 8th Judicial District, told the court. “I think the right thing was done here.”
Berra struck Tyler Carron and Nikko Landeros on Jan. 15 on a lonely county road. The boys had stopped to change a tire on the Isuzu Trooper in which they were driving three girls home from a formal dance.
Both lost their legs after Berra ran into them as they were removing tools from the back of the SUV.
Neither Carron nor Landeros could be reached after the hearing in Larimer County Judge Peter Schoon’s courtroom, which they did not attend. Cherie Carron, Carron’s mother, said the family wouldn’t comment on the plea bargain. Family members of Landeros declined to comment.
A court hearing during which Berra’s lawyer, John Chanin, of Lindquist & Venum, was expected to argue that the two boys were drinking and recklessly stopped in the middle of the road, was canceled and the plea delivered instead.
Berra was not tested for driving under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident.
Chanin declined to comment when asked whether his client might yet face civil suits as a result of the accident.
Berra pleaded guilty in order to avoid the financial strain and stress of a trial on herself and the two victims, Chanin said.
“We have always maintained that the charges should be dismissed. Today’s agreement dismisses it in 12 months,” he said.
Berra and Carron graduated from Berthoud High this year. Carron, who walked to the stage at his graduation on computerized prosthetic legs, and Landeros were high school wrestlers.
The case has strained relationships in Berthoud, where some felt it shouldn’t have gone to court and others wanted Berra to be prosecuted, said Schoon.
He said he hopes the resolution of the case will heal any rifts in the community.
The case was difficult and emotionally laden, said Ritter.
Though the misdemeanor charge was a simple traffic violation, Berra’s driving resulted in a catastrophe, Ritter said.
“You have a driver that wasn’t paying as much attention to the road as she ought to have been. We are talking about inattention, yet it is inattention that leads to catastrophic results.”
Staff writer Tom McGhee can be reached at 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com.
