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A 22-year-old Waimanalo woman who was high on marijuana and Xanax when she crashed her car into a light pole is going to jail for at least a year for causing the death of one of her best friends.
State Circuit Judge Edwin Nacino handed Chanel Franco an 18-month jail term and ordered her immediately taken into custody Tuesday as part of a five-year probation sentence for first-degree negligent homicide. The charge involves causing a death by operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Franco pleaded no contest in April.
Nacino told Franco she can get out of jail after 12 months if she is accepted into a residential drug treatment program. He also ordered Franco to perform 300 hours of community service and revoked her driving privileges for the five years she is on probation.
Franco was behind the wheel of a car that left the roadway near Waimanalo District Park on April 15, 2015, and crashed into a light pole. Back seat passenger Jessica Lum, 19, of Kailua, was thrown from the vehicle on impact and died at the scene.
Franco and a front-seat passenger were taken to The Queen’s Medical Center in serious condition. None of the vehicle’s occupants had been wearing a seat belt. Franco’s lawyer Michael Green said all three occupants were best friends.
The state says a sample of Franco’s blood taken while she was in the hospital revealed the presence of marijuana and alprazolam, the chemical name for the prescription anti-anxiety drug Xanax, in levels high enough to cause impairment. Green said Franco did not have a prescription for Xanax.
Two witnesses who were at the crash scene said Franco told them she blamed herself for the accident because she had been texting and reaching down for something just before the crash. When she looked up a van was headed straight for her, so she swerved to avoid a collision, she had said.
Deputy Prosecutor Wilson Unga said police don’t know the exact time of the crash but that Franco’s cellphone records show that it had been in use about the time of the accident. He also said the driver of the oncoming van told police Franco’s vehicle had been speeding.
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