LOVELAND, Colo.—A teenager facing trial over a car wreck that cost two high school wrestlers their legs accepted a plea agreement Wednesday and will avoid serving jail time.
Michelle Berra, 18, of Berthoud pleaded guilty to careless driving causing bodily injury and received a one-year deferred sentence. She was originally charged with two counts of careless driving.
Berra was driving a car that struck Nikko Landeros and Tyler Carron as they changed a tire on a county road in January. Doctors amputated both boys’ legs.
“We’ve always maintained that this criminal case should have been dismissed,” Berra’s attorney, John Channin, told the Rocky Mountain News. “Today’s agreement in court means that this case will be dismissed in 12 months.”
He said the plea agreement is best for Berra as well as Landeros and Carron.
“This way, we all avoid the incredible emotional stress and financial strain of a trial,” he said.
Berra declined to comment.
Larimer County prosecutor Joshua Ritter said in court that the agreement struck the appropriate balance “between genuine accountability and genuine leniency.”
Ritter—no relation to Gov. Bill Ritter, a former Denver district attorney—told the News afterward, “I think the right thing was done here today.”
Channin has indicated that if the case went to trial, he would raise questions about whether the victims had been drinking.
Court documents showed the defense had obtained medical records showing Carron had a blood-alcohol level of 0.133 after the crash.
Berra’s attorneys also had publicly questioned the role played in the investigation by Thornton police Cmdr. Lori Moriarty, who is a member of Carron’s extended family.
Larimer County district attorney spokeswoman Linda Jensen said the defense tactics played no role in their decision to work out a plea agreement, and that families of both the boys families supported it.
