- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Mental competency review planned for woman charged in double-fatal crash
Keilah Marie Coyle, 22, had a hearing in Lake County Superior Court on Tuesday for the initial appearance of counsel.
She’s charged with two counts each of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, negligent vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, gross vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence causing injury, with special allegations for great bodily injury and an enhancement that would give additional prison time on conviction for causing death to more than one person.
At the Tuesday hearing, Coyle did not enter a plea. Instead, her attorney, Tim Hodson of Sacramento, declared a doubt about her competency, which requires a separate process before the criminal case can move forward.
On the night of March 13, Coyle was driving her 2003 Ford F-250 pickup on Highway 29 north of Middletown when she crossed the highway’s solid double yellow lines and collided head-on with a 2000 GMC van driven by 53-year-old Cassandra Elaine Rolicheck.
Both Rolicheck and her passenger, Miguel Maciel Dominguez, 47, died in the wreck.
The CHP’s Clear Lake Area office confirmed to Lake County News that a chemical test was conducted and found that Coyle was under the influence of alcohol.
Hours before the fatal wreck, Coyle had been involved in a noninjury hit-and-run crash on Highway 101 in Sonoma County, the CHP said.
With Coyle’s attorney raising the matter of competency, the court must now evaluate it.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff said the criminal proceedings are now suspended pending an evaluation of Coyle for competency by a doctor.
If Coyle is found to be incompetent, the criminal case can’t continue until she regains competence, said Hinchcliff.
In other cases in Lake County where mental competency has been an issue, defendants have undergone treatment – sometimes at state mental hospital facilities – before being returned to continue the legal proceedings.
Hinchcliff said the court is scheduled to receive the doctor’s report on whether or not Coyle is mentally competent on May 11.
Coyle remains in custody at the Lake County Jail, with bail set at $2 million, according to jail records.
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