LA JOLLA, Calif. — A suspected drunken driver accused of causing a wrong-way, head-on collision in 4S Ranch that killed the mother of a 4-year-old child pleaded not guilty Tuesday to murder and other charges.
Alexandria Bayne, 34, was arraigned at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla and ordered held on $3 million bail.
Prosecutors allege Bayne’s blood-alcohol level was .33 percent — more than four times the legal limit — when she drove on the wrong side of Camino Del Norte near Camino San Bernardino and crashed her vehicle head-on into a Toyota Corolla.
The 38-year-old driver, Sarita Shakya, died at the scene of the Dec. 17 crash, which occurred about 11:45 p.m.
Bayne is also charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, felony child abuse, DUI causing injury and driving on the wrong side of a divided highway causing death.
She faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted. A readiness conference is set for Jan. 17.