Hitch Boulevard accident driver pleads no contest
By Sylvie Belmond belmond@theacorn.com

Ashley Marie Ponce, the young woman who was involved in a deadly traffic accident that killed a van full of people west of Moorpark on Aug. 15, 2005, pled no contest to seven misdemeanor counts of vehicular manslaughter Monday.

The accident occurred on Highway 118 as the Covarrubias family was heading to Home Acres, where they lived. They were waiting to make a left turn onto Hitch Boulevard when their minivan was rearended by Ponce's sedan.

Francisco Covarrubias, 35, and his wife, Ana, 31, were killed instantly. Their children, Marcos, 10; Xochitl, 9; and Sofia, 2 months; as well as their niece and nephew, Paola Hernandez, 2, and Omar Hernandez, 1, both of Northridge, also died at the scene.

Eli Neiderhiser of Ojai was severely injured in the three-vehicle crash.

Ponce, 25, could face up to seven years in jail, but is more likely to be sentenced to probation, said the Senior Dep. District Attorney Kevin Drescher.

The plea came just before jury selection for the case was about to begin.

Ponce had previously pled not guilty but changed her plea to no contest, Drescher said. The case was about to go to trial and jurors were ready to come up to the courtroom Monday morning. The plea was a surprise, said the prosecutor.

"She (Ponce) is criminally responsible for the accident but there were no allegations of gross negligence or drunk driving involved," Drescher said. Misdemeanor manslaughter is the least severe type of manslaughter case in the legal system.

Defendants usually enter a no contest plea if there is a civil litigation pending because it won't affect the civil case, Drescher said.

By law, Ponce could receive up to one year in jail for each count. But the judge said that based on the facts and circumstances surrounding the collision it would be his intention not to send her to jail, according to Drescher.

Instead, Ponce will probably be on probation with terms and conditions that could include community service.

Ponce's speed at the time of impact was between 44 and 53 miles per hour, according to the California Highway Patrol.

"Had she gone a reasonable speed limit, and eyes ahead on the road, she would not have struck my cousins," said Ruben Camacho.

Camacho said he has sympathy for Ponce, but she should be held accountable for her actions because she chose to drive unsafely.

While road conditions may have contributed to the collision, the CHP investigation concluded it was caused by driver inattentiveness, said Mark Lunn, chief of staff for Ventura County Supervisor Peter Foy and former CHP chief.

Ponce will have to bear the burden of the tragedy for the rest of her life, said Lunn, who knows firsthand how traffic fatalities impact families and the drivers who trigger them.

Lunn's 25-year-old son died in a traffic accident late last year. The drunk driver who caused that accident was sentenced to four years in prison in a Los Angeles County courtroom on Monday.

"It's very difficult when you take the loss of a human life and try to quantify what's fair or not fair," said Lunn.

Ultimately, the justice system does a good job trying to manage what's equitable under the law, he said.

Ponce is scheduled to be sentenced on June 27 in courtroom 20 of the Ventura County Superior Court.

Since the deadly crash, Supervisor Foy and his office have been working with Caltrans and other county officials to address the dangerous stretch of Highway 118 between Moorpark and Somis. The road is often used by trucks and cars as a shortcut between Moorpark and Camarillo.