Woman Sentenced to One Year in Jail for Deadly DUI Crash
Prosecutors Unsure They Could Prove Kimberly Kreis Was Liable
Kimberly Kreis was sentenced to one year in jail, three years of probation, and 250 hours of community service for her involvement in a car accident that resulted in the deaths of Danielle Murillo, 17, Brian Lopez, 20, and Jessica Leffew, 17, last April.
Prior to the incident, the driver of the vehicle Kreis hit, Erik August, 20, had fallen asleep at the wheel, causing the car to smash into the guard rail, flip over, and ultimately stop in the middle of Highway 101. Kreis, under the influence of both alcohol and methamphetamine at the time, collided with the stopped car as the four passengers were attempting to get out. August — the only one of the four to survive — suffered critical injuries and remained in a coma for over a month.
Kreis — who has a history of substance abuse and felony charges spanning more than 20 years — wasn’t charged with vehicular manslaughter or DUI with injury because the District Attorney’s Office wasn’t sure it could prove that any driver would’ve been able to avoid hitting the flipped car. Kreis pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of possession of a controlled substance and three misdemeanor alcohol and drug-related counts last October. All charges were reduced to a misdemeanor as a result of the passage of Proposition 47 late last year. (Proposition 47 mandates misdemeanors instead of felonies for “non-serious, nonviolent crimes,” unless the defendant has prior convictions for murder, rape, certain sex offenses or certain gun crimes.)
