LOCAL : Somis Woman Faces Three Murder Charges in Drunk-Driving Accident

The Ventura County district attorney’s office today filed three second-degree murder charges against a Ventura County woman in connection with a drunk-driving accident that killed three young men and injured two others.

Diane Helen Mannes, 34, of Somis was also charged with one count of driving under the influence of alcohol and causing injury. If Mannes is convicted, she could be sentenced to a maximum of 19 years to life in prison, Deputy Dist. Atty. Greg Totten said.

Mannes’ arraignment is set for April 17 in Ventura Municipal Court. She is being held in lieu of $250,000 bail in County Jail. Totten said he will ask the arraignment judge to raise the bail to $500,000 because Mannes “is a significant danger to the public as well as to herself. We’re concerned she’ll get in the same condition and drive again.”

Mannes was arrested March 31 after an accident on the northbound Ventura Freeway that killed 14-year-old Jacob Eugene Boyd and 19-year-old Joshua Daniel Oxenreider, both of Camarillo, and 20-year-old Darin Scott Mullins of Mansfield, Ohio. Jacob Boyd’s brother, Jeremy, 19, and Jeff Botens, 16, both of Camarillo, were injured.

Mannes’ blood alcohol content was .20% at the time of her arrest, Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas Hutchins said. California law presumes a motorist is drunk when the blood alcohol level is over .10%

The accident occurred as the young men were walking on the highway’s shoulder to seek help for a flat tire. Mannes’ car sideswiped theirs and flipped over, striking the young men.