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Court hearing underway for suspect in deadly DUI crash in Lakeside

A preliminary hearing is scheduled Wednesday for a 21-year-old woman accused of driving drunk and fatally striking a Texas resident and seriously injuring the victim's husband in Lakeside.

EL CAJON (CNS) - A woman accused of driving drunk and fatally striking a Texas grandmother and seriously injuring the victim's husband as they crossed a Lakeside street were ordered Thursday to stand trial on charges of second-degree murder, DUI, and gross vehicular manslaughter.
   
Katie McGrosso, 21, is charged in the death last Sept. 25 of Lorraine Kennedy and for injuring David Sandel, both of Brenham, Texas. The victims were in San Diego to celebrate their granddaughter's fourth birthday.

RELATED: Woman accused in deadly DUI crash pleads not guilty

After a preliminary hearing that lasted into a second day, Judge Lorna Alksne found that enough evidence was presented for McGrosso to stand trial. A Superior Court arraignment was scheduled Feb. 25 at the courthouse in El Cajon.
   
McGrosso faces 21 years to life in state prison if convicted.
   
Lorraine Kennedy's son, Travis Kennedy, testified Wednesday that he, his girlfriend, his mother, stepfather and uncle had just left a Mexican restaurant and were headed to their cars when the accident happened about 8 p.m.
   
``I saw my stepdad fly in the air,'' Kennedy said.
   
Kennedy said he saw a car stopped in the street and ran to his mother lying in front of it.
   
``Her pulse went away,'' Travis Kennedy said of his 55-year-old mother.
   
Sandel testified that he suffered a lacerated liver, four broken ribs, leg and head injuries and a torn shoulder.

RELATED: Woman hit and killed in Lakeside identified
   
At McGrosso's arraignment, Deputy District Attorney Cally Bright told a judge that the defendant -- an auto mechanic -- went to a restaurant after work and had a vodka and a shot of Fireball whisky, followed by four shots of sake at a sushi bar.
   
Bright said the defendant then drove to Lakeside. She was traveling ``at a significant speed'' in the 12200 block of Woodside Avenue with her lights off and struck Lorraine Kennedy and Sandel as they crossed the street, following Travis Kennedy and his girlfriend.
   
Lorraine Kennedy ended up on McGrosso's windshield, and Sandel was thrown more than 100 feet, the prosecutor said.
   
McGrosso also suffered major injuries when her Toyota Yaris struck the victims.
   
At the hospital, McGrosso's blood-alcohol level was measured at .12 percent, Bright said. Bright said McGrosso admitted that she had a prior DUI conviction when she was 17 and had attended six months of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

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