NEWPORT BEACH : Woman to be Tried in Mercedes Death

Betty Y. Davies, accused of killing her stepdaughter’s husband with a Mercedes-Benz sedan last year, was ordered Wednesday to stand trial for involuntary manslaughter and hit-and-run driving.

After hearing almost three days of testimony, Municipal Judge Susanne S. Shaw concluded that there was enough evidence to try the Newport Beach resident for the death of James R. Ward, 31, of Costa Mesa, who was fatally injured six days before Christmas.

Davies, 58, allegedly struck Ward with her car about 8 p.m. on Dec. 19 during a confrontation with him and his wife, Wendy, outside the couple’s home in the 800 block of Congress Street. Ward, the father of two children, sustained severe head injuries and died four days later at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach.

Shaw scheduled Davies’ arraignment in Superior Court for May 11 and concluded Wednesday’s proceedings by saying, “Good luck to you.”

If convicted on both felony counts, the defendant could face a maximum penalty of seven years in prison. Davies, who was arrested a day after the incident, remains free on $75,000 bail.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lewis R. Rosenblum, the prosecutor, contended during the preliminary hearing that Davies was confronted by the Wards after a neighbor spotted her spying on their home from across the street.

Testimony indicated that the couple persistently asked Davies why she was there and escorted her to her car, parked a few doors away. Davies, the evidence suggested, did not answer their questions.

Wendy Ward, the only eyewitness to the incident, recalled that Davies ran her husband down without warning or provocation as he stood about two feet in front of the Mercedes 500 SEL. He was carried on the hood some distance down the block before he fell into the street and Davies drove off, she said.

“I was yelling at Jim to move,” Wendy Ward testified. “She started the car. I heard the motor racing. Then she hit him. He had no chance to move.”

Defense attorney Marshall Schulman, seeking to have the charges reduced or dismissed, contended that James Ward was enraged by Davies’ appearance and struck her automobile several times with a cordless telephone before Davies panicked and drove off.

“This is a tragedy all the way around,” Schulman said. “There may be other reasons why my client was there--good motives as opposed to bad. Then unfortunate things happened.”

To Schulman, the evidence suggested that Ward might have been on the hood of the Mercedes pounding on the windshield and was hurt when he fell from the car onto the street as it drove away. Davies, he said, probably did not know he was injured.