Driver Guilty In 2009 Crash That Killed 3 Family Members
TEMECULA (AP) — A California woman claiming she drove erratically to avoid a road-rage incident has been convicted of vehicular manslaughter for a crash that killed three people two years ago.
Riverside County jurors reached the verdicts Tuesday against 25-year-old Victoria Cook. She could face nearly 18 years in prison when she's sentenced July 27 on three counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.
The Highway 74 crash in Hemet killed 11-year-old Zaria Williams, her 37-year-old cousin Cedric Page and 72-year-old Christina Giambra.
Defense lawyer Joshua Knight says Cook was trying to avoid a serious road rage situation by maneuvering her Acura around traffic.
The Riverside Press-Enterprise says Cook clipped a car and crashed into Page's silver Audi, which was then forced into a head-on crash with an SUV driven by Giambra's son.
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