Woman pleads guilty in OC DUI crash that killed couple, hospitalized young daughters

SANTA ANA, Calif. (CNS) -- A 23-year-old woman pleaded guilty Friday to an alcohol-fueled crash in Newport Beach that killed a Santa Ana couple and left their three young daughters hospitalized.

Grace Elizabeth Coleman is scheduled to be sentenced July 29. She accepted a plea deal from Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregg Prickett, who said the maximum punishment she would face would be 21 years to life in prison, her attorney John Barnett said.

Coleman pleaded guilty to second-degree murder as well as single counts each of driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury, a DUI with a blood-alcohol content exceeding the legal limit of .08% or more causing injury, and failure to stop at a hit-and-run with injury or death, all felonies, as well as misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence of alcohol and driving with a blood-alcohol content in excess of the legal limit.

Coleman could have faced up to 42 years and eight months to life in prison if convicted at trial.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker alleged that on the night of the deadly collision in Newport Beach, Dec. 8, 2020, Coleman got a ride home before the crash, but then got back behind the wheel of her vehicle.

The misdemeanor DUI charges relate to Coleman's arrest in Laguna Beach on Aug. 29. That case was not submitted to prosecutors until Dec. 16, 2020, said Kimberly Edds, a public information officer with the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

Under state law, a driver with a prior DUI conviction who is subsequently involved in a deadly DUI crash can be charged with second-degree murder, which carries a life sentence. The same legal principle is applied in some cases for a prior arrest when a suspect has been given what is known as a Watson waiver admonishment.

Walker previously said in court that Coleman was involved in a hit-and-run with property damage in 2019 in Laguna Beach.

According to now-retired Laguna Beach police Sgt. Jim Cota, the victim reported the collision the following day and submitted video footage, but the two sides later settled the matter between themselves and no arrest or referral for charges was made to prosecutors.

Prosecutors alleged Coleman's blood-alcohol level was 0.22% - nearly three times the legal limit -- at the time of the collision that killed Henry Eduardo Saldana-Mejia, 27, of Santa Ana, and his wife, Gabriela M. Andrade, who would have turned 29 later in December 2020.

According to a GoFundMe page created by Andrade's sister, the family had been admiring holiday lights in the area that night, and the victims' daughters, who are 1, 3 and 5 years old, were dressed in "their Christmas pajamas."

Santa Ana police raised $8,000 to help the children and bought toys for them for Christmas, said former Santa Ana Police Department Cpl. Anthony Bertagna. They all suffered broken legs and the oldest also had broken arms, Bertagna said.

Coleman was driving a black Range Rover southbound on Newport Coast Drive when the SUV collided with the victims' Nissan Versa as Saldana was turning onto Pelican Hills Road South at 7:46 p.m., according to Heather Rangel, a spokeswoman for the Newport Beach Police Department.

Rangel said the three children were riding in the back seat of the sedan. She said Coleman "possibly" ran a red light.

Saldana-Mejia and his wife were pronounced dead at the scene.