A Placer County judge ordered today that a Folsom woman will face a felony trial for the death last year of a 15-year-old Granite Bay girl who was struck while walking on the side of the road by a hit-and-run driver.
Superior Court Judge Larry D. Gaddis said following a preliminary hearing for defendant Anna Elvira Berset, 51, that there was sufficient reason to proceed to a trial on a felony charge of hit-and-run driving causing death and a misdemeanor count of manslaughter without gross negligence. He set trial for Sept. 15.
Killed in the June 13 incident was Courtney Parker, a Granite Bay High School student and former cheerleader who had just completed her freshman year.
Parker was walking with a friend along Auburn Folsom Road near Robin Hood Way after 10 p.m. when a vehicle behind them reportedly veered from the roadway and struck her, sending her 70 yards from the point of impact, according to law enforcement officials who investigated the case.
California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Williams testified that Berset called his office the next morning to report that she had struck something on Auburn Folsom Road the previous night.
"She believed that kids might have tossed something at her, maybe a trash can," Williams said, adding that she also mentioned possibly hitting a deer.
When officers went to her home, they found extensive damage to the hood, headlight, windshield and right side of her 2002 Toyota RAV4. An evidence technician collected a DNA sample from a spot on the vehicle and it matched that of Courtney Parker, a DNA analyst from the state testified.
No evidence was found by the CHP that Berset had been drinking prior to the accident, although she was driving home from a gathering in Auburn where alcohol had been served.
Call The Bee's Art Campos, (916) 773-2825.
