A 21-year-old woman who admitted she was texting before the car she was driving hit a utility pole, killing a passenger, entered a plea of not guilty in Circuit Court on Thursday morning.

Chanel Franco was indicted by an Oahu grand jury March 23 and charged with negligent homicide in the death of Jessica Lum. Her bail was set at $11,000.

Franco’s trial is set to begin the week of May 31 before Circuit Judge Dean Ochiai.

Lum, a passenger in the back seat of a silver 2003 Honda Civic, was thrown from the vehicle when it hit a utility pole on Hihimanu Street on April 15. Lum died at the scene of the crash near Waimanalo District Park.

Two witnesses said the driver told them after the fatal accident that she blamed herself because she had been texting and reaching down for something just before the accident. When she looked up, a van was coming straight at her, so she swerved to avoid it.

Franco and another passenger were taken in serious condition to the Queen’s Medical Center. All three occupants were described as close friends.

According to police, Franco was driving the car southeast on Hihimanu Street when she lost control of it. The car veered off the road and struck a utility pole.

After the hearing, Michael Green, Franco’s attorney, declined to discuss the specifics of the case.

“These cases, great percentages of them, involve good people,” Green told reporters. “They were friends. … My client is heartbroken. Their families are heartbroken. It happens. It’s not necessarily excusable. There are no winners in these cases.”