Last Updated on January 15, 2023 by CCAR Staff
LOS ANGELES >> The trial for a Fontana woman accused of causing a wrong way crash on the 60 Freeway in Diamond Bar the left six dead last year is expected to begin next year, defense attorneys said Wednesday.
Prosecutors, defense attorneys as well as Olivia Carolee Culbreath, 22, were in court at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles Wednesday.
Some discovery issues still needed to be worked out, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Elizabeth Padilla told Judge Dennis Landin.
The lawyers will return to court Oct. 7 and trial will begin within 90 days.
Outside the courtroom defense attorney Kelly Sheahen Gerner said the trial could begin in late January or early February.
Culbreath is accused of driving a Chevrolet Camaro east on the westbound 60 Freeway at speeds near 100 mph on Feb. 9, 2014. She allegedly was involved in a wrong way crash at about 4:45 a.m. in Diamond Bar, the California Highway Patrol said.
The car crashed head-on into a sport utility vehicle. Another vehicle subsequently crashed into the SUV, the CHP said.
Six people died, among them two women, who were in Culbreath’s car. One of the women was Culbreath’s sister, Maya, 24, of Rialto, and the other was Kristin Melissa Young, 21, of Chino.
• Photos: 6 killed in wrong-way crash on 60 Freeway in Diamond Bar
Four Huntington Park residents Gregorio Mejia-Martinez, 47; Leticia Ibarra, 42; Jessica Jasmine Mejia, 20; and Ester Delgado, 80, in the SUV were thrown from the vehicle and died.
CHP investigators said during a pre-trial hearing that witnesses saw Culbreath drinking at a Fullerton bar hours before the crash.
Judge Sam Ohta, who has been handling the case since it was moved from Pomona to Los Angeles, was not in court Wednesday. He is on a temporary appellate court assignment, defense attorney Robert Sheahen said.
Once the judge returns the final details related to setting a trial date will be worked out, the lawyers said.
Culbreath appeared in court Wednesday in a wheel chair and wearing brown jail clothing. In most of her past appearances she was wearing a hospital gown.
Sheahen Gerner said she recently visited her client at the jail ward of Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.
Culbreath has had five to six surgeries to repair damage to her digestive system, Sheahen Gerner said.
“Slowly but surely she is improving,” Sheahen Gerner said. “It’s been a very physically and traumatic experience for her.”
