San Diego DUI California drunk driving attorney news

A 23-year-old motorist who was San Diego DUI California drunk driving / intoxicated when she struck and killed a man who was filling his gas tank on a Vista freeway offramp pleaded guilty Thursday to felony charges.

Jessica Lynn Hawk of Carlsbad entered her pleas to hit-and-run with death and vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, and admitted an allegation that she caused great bodily injury to the victim, 37-year-old William Hanson.

Under the San Diego DUI California drunk driving plea deal, she will serve a four-year prison term. Judge Aaron Katz will formally sentence her on March 25.

Deputy District Attorney Christine Trevino said Hawk worked all day at a bar in San Marcos and had four drinks before leaving. Her 2-year-old son was in the vehicle at the time of the crash.

Hanson, a customer service agent from Oceanside, was about four feet inside the fog line on the Highway 78 ramp to Escondido Avenue when he was struck and killed by Hawk's car, the San Diego DUI California drunk driving prosecuting attorney said.

The woman immediately fled, tossing out broken parts of her vehicle as she drove off, and went to her boyfriend's Oceanside residence, the San Diego DUI California drunk driving prosecutor said.

A neighbor who heard media accounts of the crash saw Hawk's heavily damaged vehicle and called San Diego DUI California drunk driving police.

San Diego DUI / drunk driving Defense attorney William Cristophe said after the hearing that his client, who has no prior criminal record, was "extremely remorseful" about what happened.