Woman Pleads Guilty to Hit-and-Run Death

A 29-year-old North Hollywood woman pleaded guilty Thursday to felony hit-and-run and drunk driving in an accident that killed a Sherman Oaks woman.

Cheryl Lynn Ewell originally faced an additional count of voluntary manslaughter in the April 8 accident that killed Mary Kay Chaleff, 49. Prosecutors agreed to drop the manslaughter charge in exchange for her guilty plea, Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Dver said.

In striking the deal, prosecutors took into consideration Ewell’s lack of a criminal record and the fact that she pleaded at an early stage of proceedings, sparing the time and expense of a trial, Dver said.

She now faces up to one year in jail instead of the four years she would have faced if convicted, Dver said.

Van Nuys Municipal Court Judge Aviva K. Bobb set sentencing for Jan. 11 in Van Nuys Superior Court.

Ewell was westbound on Addison Street when she struck Chaleff’s car as it traveled south on Woodman Avenue about 2 a.m. A witness saw her get out of her car and run into the bushes. The witness persuaded Ewell to return to the intersection, where she was arrested, Los Angeles police said.

Ewell had a blood-alcohol level of 0.10%, at which intoxication is presumed.