A Marin County judge ruled Wednesday, July 22, that statements from a surviving passenger can be used as evidence in the vehicular manslaughter case stemming from a Woodacre crash that killed four teenage girls last year.
Judge James Chou, presiding in Marin County Superior Court in San Rafael, found that California Highway Patrol officers acted in good faith when they interviewed the surviving passenger at a hospital after the April 18, 2025, crash on San Geronimo Valley Drive. Defense attorney Charles Dresow had argued the interviews should be thrown out because audio recordings failed and officers destroyed their handwritten notes.
"I cannot conclude that they acted in bad faith or destroyed evidence," Chou said.
The defendant, a 17-year-old Fairfax resident, is charged with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter. She was driving a 2021 Volkswagen Tiguan with five passengers when the vehicle struck a redwood tree and caught fire. Killed were Sienna Katz, 15; Ada Kepley, 15; Olive Koren, 14; and Josalynn Osborn, 15. All six occupants attended Archie Williams High School in San Anselmo.
CHP officers Jonathan Briggs and Erik Carrillo testified that their wireless microphones failed to transmit audio to patrol car recording devices. Both said they destroyed their handwritten notes after completing their reports, which they called standard practice. The officers were not issued body-worn cameras until the month after the crash.
The surviving passenger told investigators she saw another vehicle partially crossing into the driver's lane before the crash, and that the driver swerved right to avoid it. CHP investigators found no evidence a second vehicle was involved.
Dresow told the court that without audio, there is no way to verify exactly what the passenger said. Prosecutor Cassandra Edwards of the Marin County District Attorney's Office countered that the hospital setting was chaotic and the officers' recording system was designed for roadside traffic stops near their patrol cars.
It is the second time Chou has ruled against the defense on an evidence question. In May, he denied a motion to dismiss evidence from the vehicle's speedometer, which investigators used to determine the Tiguan was traveling 60 to 65 mph in a 40 mph zone.
Diversion hearing begins
Also on Wednesday, Chou began weighing whether to grant the defendant juvenile diversion, a rehabilitation program that could result in the case being dismissed if completed. Families of the victims were divided.
Margaret Minicozzi, mother of Sienna Katz, said the driver needs accountability. "I do not want her to suffer more than she has," Minicozzi said. "I hope she learned from this tragedy, but I sincerely hope my daughter's death was not in vain."
Christine Osborn Batanides, mother of Josalynn Osborn, also opposed diversion. Other families supported it. Gail Koren, grandmother of Olive Koren, told the judge her granddaughter would have wanted diversion granted. Jessica Glantz, mother of the surviving passenger, called the crash "a horrible tragedy born from an accident, not from malice."
Chou continued the diversion hearing to Monday, August 10.
