SAN DIEGO (CBS8 / CNS) - A 20-year-old woman accused of leaving the scene after hitting and killing a teenage boy on a Tierrasanta roadway pleaded not guilty Thursday to a felony charge of hit-and-run causing death.
Jessica Rene Medsker of San Diego faces a maximum of four years in prison if convicted, said Deputy District Attorney Andrew Aguilar.
The prosecutor said 16-year-old Alex Funk and a friend were walking southbound in the fast lane of the 5700 block of Santo Road with their backs toward traffic around midnight March 9.
The victim's friend managed to jump onto a median to avoid being hit, police said.
A motorcycle rider behind Medsker's car estimated she was going 60 mph in a 45-mph zone when Funk was struck, according to Aguilar.
Medsker was arrested six days later about a mile from the stretch of road where the victim died.
The defendant admitted taking sips from her boyfriend's alcoholic drink at a La Jolla restaurant earlier in the evening, the prosecutor said.
Defense attorney Ryan Tegnelia told Judge Kathleen Lewis that Medsker lives with her father and has no prior record.
In court, the attorneys said that because of a jail booking error, Medsker was freed one day after her arrest on $50,000 bail, even though her bail should have been set by schedule at $100,000. The judge allowed the defendant to remain free on her already posted $50,000 bail.
The prosecutor also revealed for the first time that the defendant's boyfriend was inside the vehicle at the time of the collision.
A readiness conference was set for May 3 and a preliminary hearing scheduled for May 18.
In a chilling coincidence, Jessica Medsker's oldest sister Leann Medsker, 25, was arrested in 2014 for gross vehicular manslaughter and DUI. Leann was the driver in a rollover SUV crash in Mission Valley that killed a 25-year-old man and seriously injured two other passengers, including Medsker's own father.
Leann Medsker is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Riverside County.
Court records also show another sister, Amy Rae Medsker, 23, has a 2014 felony conviction for possession of heroin for sale.
The family of the hit-and-run victim, Alex Funk, has scheduled a celebration of life ceremony at Good Samaritan Church, 4321 Eastgate Mall in University City on Saturday, March 25 at 11 a.m.
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