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Nearly 18 months after a California family of four was killed in a head-on collision, the Gardnerville woman accused of causing the accident pleaded guilty.
Dawn Miley pleaded guilty Monday to felony neglect of duty by self-medicating her diabetes without a doctor’s supervision.
As a result, she drove while her level of consciousness was altered by low blood sugar, causing her to lose control of her vehicle.
Killed at the scene were Jerome Calevro, 58; his wife, Maria Amelia, 52; daughter Bernadette, 23, and son Jerome Daniel, 15. The Calevros were enroute from their Torrance, Calif., home to a vacation at Lake Tahoe.
Proceedings were delayed as her lawyer Derrick Lopez sought a report from an expert witness on his client’s behalf related to her diabetic condition.
She faces up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine at her sentencing March 9.
As part of a plea agreement, the district attorney’s office will recommend probation without jail time.
Miley blamed her lowered blood sugar on an argument she had with her “significant other.”
“That’s the only thing that I have been able to determine,” she said Monday.
Under questioning by Judge Michael Gibbons, Miley said she had eaten a regular meal and was following a treatment plan ordered by her doctor in California.
“I couldn’t find a doctor locally that specialized in diabetes,” she said. “They were all in Reno.”
The day of the accident Miley said she remembered going to the store.
“Did you feel any different?” he asked.
“If I had, I wouldn’t have been driving,” she said.
She said she couldn’t recall the accident.
“I woke up in the hospital three days later. That’s the soonest I can remember,” she said.
Witnesses said on July 14, 2007, Miley was driving southbound on Highway 395 at a high speed, passing several vehicles before her 2002 Suzuki sport utility vehicle left the roadway surface along the right, overcorrected, and struck the Calevros’ pickup truck in the northbound lane near Leviathan Mine Road.
Miley’s attorney, Derrick Lopez, said his client entered the plea to avoid prosecution on more serious charges and to spare the victims’ family the pain of a trial.
“There are a number of factors,” Lopez said. “She certainly had an obligation to drive only when it’s safe. But there is no statue that she test her blood sugar. There is no easy way to monitor that. She feels tremendous remorse and guilt. She wants to take that responsibility.”
According to court documents, Miley caused a three-car collision in 2002 in California in which she and six other people were injured.
She told Gibbons she gave that information to the Nevada Department of Vehicles when she obtained a Nevada license.
“I told them I was diabetic. I told them I had a previous accident. That was pretty much it,” she said. “I brought the doctor’s release that it was OK for me to drive.”
Lopez said the victims’ family was seeking $11,000 restitution for funeral expenses.
Miley said she was in the process of determining her insurance.
“Supposedly, I was insured by two companies, but they’re both denying coverage. One said it expired the day before my accident. That was very convenient. The other insurance company said I wasn’t covered,” she said.
Dawn Miley pleaded guilty Monday to felony neglect of duty by self-medicating her diabetes without a doctor’s supervision.
As a result, she drove while her level of consciousness was altered by low blood sugar, causing her to lose control of her vehicle.
Killed at the scene were Jerome Calevro, 58; his wife, Maria Amelia, 52; daughter Bernadette, 23, and son Jerome Daniel, 15. The Calevros were enroute from their Torrance, Calif., home to a vacation at Lake Tahoe.
Proceedings were delayed as her lawyer Derrick Lopez sought a report from an expert witness on his client’s behalf related to her diabetic condition.
She faces up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine at her sentencing March 9.
As part of a plea agreement, the district attorney’s office will recommend probation without jail time.
Miley blamed her lowered blood sugar on an argument she had with her “significant other.”
“That’s the only thing that I have been able to determine,” she said Monday.
Under questioning by Judge Michael Gibbons, Miley said she had eaten a regular meal and was following a treatment plan ordered by her doctor in California.
“I couldn’t find a doctor locally that specialized in diabetes,” she said. “They were all in Reno.”
The day of the accident Miley said she remembered going to the store.
“Did you feel any different?” he asked.
“If I had, I wouldn’t have been driving,” she said.
She said she couldn’t recall the accident.
“I woke up in the hospital three days later. That’s the soonest I can remember,” she said.
Witnesses said on July 14, 2007, Miley was driving southbound on Highway 395 at a high speed, passing several vehicles before her 2002 Suzuki sport utility vehicle left the roadway surface along the right, overcorrected, and struck the Calevros’ pickup truck in the northbound lane near Leviathan Mine Road.
Miley’s attorney, Derrick Lopez, said his client entered the plea to avoid prosecution on more serious charges and to spare the victims’ family the pain of a trial.
“There are a number of factors,” Lopez said. “She certainly had an obligation to drive only when it’s safe. But there is no statue that she test her blood sugar. There is no easy way to monitor that. She feels tremendous remorse and guilt. She wants to take that responsibility.”
According to court documents, Miley caused a three-car collision in 2002 in California in which she and six other people were injured.
She told Gibbons she gave that information to the Nevada Department of Vehicles when she obtained a Nevada license.
“I told them I was diabetic. I told them I had a previous accident. That was pretty much it,” she said. “I brought the doctor’s release that it was OK for me to drive.”
Lopez said the victims’ family was seeking $11,000 restitution for funeral expenses.
Miley said she was in the process of determining her insurance.
“Supposedly, I was insured by two companies, but they’re both denying coverage. One said it expired the day before my accident. That was very convenient. The other insurance company said I wasn’t covered,” she said.
