A routine juvenile plea hearing in Marin County turned raw and emotional yesterday, as a 17-year-old driver denied misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter charges in last April’s crash that killed four of her friends and shattered the calm of Woodacre.
What was supposed to be a straightforward appearance in Marin County Superior Court took a sharp turn when prosecutors revealed they had filed a Pitchess motion seeking access to a California Highway Patrol officer’s personnel records. The move immediately intensified tensions in the already divided community west of San Rafael.
Inside the packed courtroom, the teen, not identified publicly because of juvenile-privacy rules, sat between her parents and her attorney as she formally denied the charges. Spectators filled nearly every seat. Prosecutors told the judge they sought to review confidential personnel files of a CHP officer who responded to the crash, arguing the records could contain information relevant to the case. “It’s shameful,” said the mother of victim Ada Kepley after the hearing, according to the San Francisco Chronicle…