NEWPORT BEACH : Car-Death Suspect Pleads Not Guilty

Betty Y. Davies, accused of using a Mercedes-Benz sedan to run down and kill her stepdaughter’s husband, pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of involuntary manslaughter.

Davies, 58, of Newport Beach, who had been accused by her stepdaughter of harassment for years, declined comment.

Wendy Ward, the defendant’s stepdaughter and wife of James Ward, who died Dec. 23, watched intently from a courtroom bench as Davies was arraigned.

“I want to make my face shown, let them know that I’ll be here throughout the trial,” Ward said after the hearing.

Police had sought murder charges against Davies, but after reviewing the case, the district attorney said he believed that he had only enough evidence to support the lesser charges.

“It was a very difficult decision as to which charges to file,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Lewis R. Rosenblum, the prosecutor in the case. “I had to file the charges I felt I could prove.”

A conviction for murder or voluntary manslaughter would have required proof of intent to kill. “It’s very difficult to determine what a person’s state of mind was,” Rosenblum said.

Voluntary manslaughter carries a sentence of a maximum of 11 years in prison; involuntary manslaughter is punishable by a maximum of four years.

“I think it will be a very challenging case on both sides,” Rosenblum said.

He added that he will attempt to show that on the night of Dec. 19, Davies was “grossly negligent” when she struck and killed James Ward with her maroon, 500 SEL Mercedes-Benz outside his house in the 800 block of Congress Street in Costa Mesa and then fled the scene, knowing that he was injured.

Ward, 31, was taken to Hoag Hospital in critical condition and died of his injuries four days later.

Marshall M. Schulman, Davies’ attorney, declined to discuss his defense strategy. He did say that some of the witnesses in the case have not cooperated with his investigator. “In one case, my investigator was interviewing a witness and somebody interfered and said, ‘We don’t want anybody talking to anybody.”’

According to police records, the Wards had complained to police at least four times in three years that Davies had harassed them by vandalizing their car and making annoying phone calls, among other things. No legal action was taken on those complaints.

Wendy Ward has said she has no idea why her stepmother harassed them.

Rosenblum requested Friday that the judge issue an order that would prohibit Davies from making any contact with Wendy Ward. Wendy Ward said she has not spoken to her stepmother or father since the incident. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 6.