Driver’s Moves Described in DUI-Murder Trial

Arguing that an alleged drunk driver’s actions amounted to murder, a prosecutor told a Superior Court jury Monday that the motorist used a spare ignition key to flee from a police stop before she plowed her car into a family’s station wagon, taking the life of the father.

The driver, Lisa Welchert, is charged with second-degree murder, gross manslaughter while intoxicated, DUI causing bodily injury, and driving with a blood-alcohol level of more than 0.35--nearly five times the state limit. She faces 15 years to life in prison if convicted.

Welchert, 30, has pleaded not guilty to all counts and showed no emotion Monday during opening statements.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Caroline Peck said Welchert had a 1993 conviction for drunk driving in Washington state, had twice received alcohol counseling and eight years ago used a spare key to try to flee Washington state authorities.

Welchert is accused of using a spare key as well on Feb. 9, 1999, to speed away after she was stopped for drunk driving on Huntington Drive in Arcadia. An officer had taken her keys and walked back to his patrol car to do some paperwork when Welchert, who was prone on the passenger side, suddenly sat up and began driving off, Peck said.

A mile from the scene, Welchert’s Honda hit the rear of the station wagon driven by John Chan, 44. The impact killed Chan and hospitalized his wife and son. Another motorist in a second vehicle was injured. Welchert had cuts and bruises but no serious injury.

Her attorney, Grady Russell, declined to make an opening statement Monday, But in previously filed court papers, he suggested that Welchert was in such an altered state of mind that she could not have formed the intent to harm anyone--a legal requirement needed to prove murder.