When facing a lengthy stay in prison it is fairly typical for the accused to plead not guilty, as was the case for Danae Miller last Friday. The Newport Coast resident was charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, after striking a bicyclist on her way home from work on Feb. 21. We have been following this story from the beginning, when we found out that on top of being intoxicated on that fateful day, Miller had received 16 traffic citations since 2005. It was hard to believe that Miller was still allowed to operate a motor vehicle or even be inside one for that matter. Nevertheless, Miller's actions last February cost someone their life and a love one for a family; it appears that Miller will not get off this time like the 16 times before with just a slap on the wrist.
Police claim Miller was consuming alcohol at the restaurant she worked at before jumping in the car to head home. It is believed by prosecutors that Miller had been text messaging about the time she veered into the bicycle lane on San Joaquin Hills Road hitting Amine Britel from behind. Britel received massive injuries from the hit and died at the scene. A mere two hours after the crash, Miller's blood alcohol level was 0.10, which is more than California's legal limit of 0.08.
The road is a dangerous place to begin with, high speed motor vehicles moving past each other and everyone is in a hurry. Alcohol and driving never mix as is testament to the events on Feb. 21, add text messaging to the equation and something bad is guaranteed to happen. There is no excuse for drunk driving, there is always an alternative available for you - the choice is yours.
Miller’s pretrial is set for May 19.
Can't find any new news on this. Is there anything else since the pre-trial?