SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The woman accused of killing another driver in a wrong-way crash while drunk on a San Diego freeway last year changed her plea Friday.
Lauren Ashley Freeman pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and DUI causing injury in the Feb. 26, 2018 collision that killed 35-year-old Justin Callahan.
Freeman's plea dismisses a murder charge. She is scheduled to be sentenced to 11 years and 8 months in prison at a September hearing.
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Initially, Callahan was deemed responsible for the crash. The position of his Volkswagen Jetta after the crash led CHP officers to believe he was at fault.
But California Highway Patrol investigators reversed their findings after Callahan's family refuted the claim and the case was re-opened. Freeman was charged with causing the fatal crash in November.
Callahan was driving to his Ocean Beach home from work in Chula Vista when the crash occurred on a transition ramp from northbound Interstate 5 and westbound I-8 just before 2 a.m.
The 35-year-old died at the scene, while Freeman and a passenger in her Toyota Camry sustained major injuries. Investigators said Freeman had a blood alcohol content of .28 at the time of the crash.
