A Marin County teenager facing charges in connection with a crash that killed four of her friends last year will continue to s prosecution after a judge denied a request to dismiss her case Monday morning.
After hearing hours of statements from family members whose positions on the issue were diametrically opposed, Marin County Superior Court Judge James T. Chou denied diversion for the 17-year-old driver, who was charged this year with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter. Following the crash, California Highway Patrol investigators attributed the crash’s cause to speeding on the two-lane, tree-lined road.
The ruling, a major development in a case that has driven deep rifts in a close-knit Marin County community, means the driver will continue to face prosecution as a juvenile, where she could spend up to a year in juvenile detention. The driver, whom the Chronicle is not naming due to its policy not to identify teenagers accused of crimes, would otherwise have faced more lenient penalties, such as community service…