Costa Mesa : Man Pleads Not Guilty: Crash Hurt MADD Aide

A man repeatedly convicted of drunk driving pleaded not guilty Tuesday to felony drunk-driving charges stemming from a collision that injured the president of the county chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving and four other people.

Dane Heftved, 26, of Costa Mesa, who had more than three times the legal blood-alcohol limit at the time of the crash, entered his plea before Harbor Municipal Judge Brian R. Carter.

After appointing a public defender to represent Heftved, the judge refused Heftved’s request to remain free on his own recognizance or on $2,500 bail. Instead, Carter ordered him to be taken into custody in the courtroom and set bail at $10,000, Deputy Dist. Atty. Lois C. Bivins said.

A pretrial hearing was set for Thursday, and a preliminary hearing for Nov. 10, Bivins said.

Heftved has been charged with two felony drunk-driving counts. He faces a maximum of seven years in prison.

The charge alleges that Heftved’s blood alcohol level was .35 at the time of the Sept. 21 accident that caused minor neck and back injuries to MADD president Laurie McCarthy of Huntington Beach.

According to state Department of Motor Vehicle records, Heftved was convicted once in 1981 and once in 1983 for misdemeanor drunk driving, as well as being convicted of reckless driving as a result of a 1982 drunk-driving arrest. He served jail time for all three convictions, records show.

McCarthy, 41, her husband and two friends were returning from a dinner engagement in a Volkswagen van when Heftved’s Dodge sedan struck them from behind as they were northbound on Placentia Avenue south of Hamilton Street in Costa Mesa, police said.

All four people in the van were injured slightly, as were Heftved and one of his two passengers, police said.