A California teen who live-streamed her alleged drunken car wreck, which killed her younger sister and injured another passenger, is pleading not guilty to the crime.
On Wednesday, 18-year-old Obdulia Sanchez is being charged with multiple felonies in connection with the crash that happened last Friday night, killing 14-year-old Jacqueline Sanchez. She was arraigned on Wednesday afternoon in Merced County, California, according to People.
Videos by PopCulture.com
Up Next: Driver Allegedly Recorded Fatal Car Crash That Killed Her Sister, Posted Video to Instagram
The prosecutors on the case have listed the counts against Obdulia as one count of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, an alternative count of gross vehicular manslaughter, two counts of driving under the influence resulting in injury and two counts of driving with a blood-alcohol level of .08 percent causing injury, with great bodily injury allegations for all four vehicle code violations.
The court records indicate that Obdulia remains in custody at the Merced County jail on $560,000 bail.
Ramnik Samrao, Obdulia’s defense attorney, has spoken out saying that the teen will always feel “morally responsible” for the crash. However, he is cautioning people not to rush to judgment based on the viral video footage from the incident that was posted on the Internet.
“The main thing that I want people to know is that — most people have seen this video and they just have this reaction on the kind of person she is based on this little clip into her life when they don’t know anything about her,” Samrao said.
More: 1 Dead, 7 Injured After Spinning Carnival Ride Breaks Apart Midair
The attorney says that there are still several substantial details that need to be determined.
“We don’t know that she was drunk,” he said. “That’s the allegation. She does obviously feel terrible and she’s trying to deal with it in the way that she can.”
Contrasting Samrao’s position, Merced’s Chief Deputy District Attorney Harold Nutt believes that the case is clear cut.
“The behavior demonstrated both prior to and after the incident, as documented by the defendant’s own recording, is disturbing and shocking,” Nutt said. “The Merced County District Attorney’s Office will do everything in its power to see that justice is done in this matter.”
The video in question shows Obdulia driving down the highway with her sister and another passenger sitting in the backseat of the vehicle. Obdulia can be seen talking to the camera while veering on the shoulder. She then overcorrected and blasted through a barbed wire fence into a field and flipping over.
Jacquelin and the other passenger were not wearing seatbelts and were ejected from the vehicle.
Obdulia’s video then shows her kneeling beside her mortally wounded sibling.
She can be seen speaking calmly at first then becoming more emotional.
“Hey, everybody, if I go to f—— jail for life, you already know why,” she says.
Turning the camera towards her sister’s motionless body, Obdulia says: “My sister is f—— dying. Look, I f—— love my sister to death. I don’t give a f—. Man, we about to die. This is the last thing I wanted to happen to us, but it just did.”
In the event that Obdulia is found guilty on all charges, she faces a maximum sentence of 13 years and eight months in prison.
