A man accused of driving drunk and fatally striking a mother of three who was out for a walk in the Lake Murray/San Carlos area pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of murder, gross vehicular manslaughter and DUI causing injury.
Joshua Daniel Taylor, 38, was ordered held on $2 million bail.
Deputy District Attorney Steven Schott told Judge David Szumowski that the collision occurred last Thursday about 6:30 p.m.
Schott said 38-year-old Rocio Leamon was walking to Cowles Mountain when she stopped at the intersection of Navajo Road and Golfcrest Drive and pushed the button to wait for the walk sign.
Fifteen seconds after the victim entered the intersection, Taylor drove through it against a red light and at a high rate of speed, striking Leamon and carrying her 57 feet before she landed face-down on the pavement, the prosecutor alleged. She was pronounced dead 30 minutes later.
When Taylor got out of his Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck, a witness saw him ditch a vodka bottle near where the crime occurred, Schott alleged.
Taylor — who has prior DUI convictions from 1996 and 2000 — had a blood-alcohol content above .23 percent — nearly triple the legal limit — an hour after the accident, Schott said.
The defendant faces 15 years to life if convicted.
A readiness conference was set for Sept. 29 and a preliminary hearing for Oct. 27.
— City News Service
