Last Updated on January 17, 2023 by C-CAR
LOS ANGELES >> A trial date could be scheduled in August in the case of a Fontana woman accused of driving the wrong way on the 60 Freeway and causing a crash that killed six people last year.
A trial date would come after months of pretrial hearings for Olivia Carolee Culbreath, 22, who was allegedly driving her Chevrolet Camaro east on the westbound 60 in Diamond Bar when, going the wrong way, she crash head-on into a sport-utility vehicle and another vehicle crashed into the SUV, the California Highway Parol said. Culbreath was driving at speeds close to 100 mph, authorities said.
CHP investigators said witnesses saw Culbreath drinking at a Fullerton bar and grill hour prior to the crash.
Two women traveling in Culbreath’s car died as a result of the crash. One was Culbreath’s sister, Maya, 24, of Rialto. The other victim was Kristin Young, 21, of Chino.
Four Huntington Park residents in the SUV were thrown from the vehicle. The four victims were Gregorio Mejia-Martinez, 47; Leticia Ibarra, 42; Jessica Mejia, 20; and Ester Delgado, 80.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys were in court Wednesday hashing out details. Defense attorney Robert Sheahen went before Judge Sam Ohta at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles and said expert witnesses will be called to testify during the trial. Culbreath was not in court Wednesday.
The defense team has identified areas in which experts will be needed to provide testimony, but the actual experts have not been identified, Sheahen said, and he was not in a position Wednesday to provide that information to Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Elizabeth Padilla.
Padilla said the defense team had informed him that by Aug. 5 they would provide her all the discovery information they collect. She has turned over her information to the defense.
“At this point I’ve provided almost 1,000 pages of discovery,” Padilla said.
She added she needs the names of the expert witnesses in order to prepare for a trial.
Sheahen said his team is working with lawyers handling a civil case involving Culbreath and will have the experts identified within 30 days.
The judge directed Sheahen to give the names of the expert witnesses to the prosecution, once available, and asked the two sides to provide him a report the week of July 15 on their progress.
Lawyers in the case are expected to be in court Aug. 5 for a pre-trial conference and possibly the setting of a trial start date.
Culbreath, who was being held at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles in lieu of $6 million bail, suffered significant injuries in the crash and requires the use of a wheel chair. She has been in and out of the hospital recently, said Daniel Perlman, one of her lawyers.
