Daughter, father plead not guilty to hit-and-run killing
A woman accused in a hit-and-run crash in Palm Springsthat killed a Desert Hot Springs teenager a year ago pleaded not guilty today,along with her father, who is charged with being an accessory.
Heather Marie Brents, 30, and Russell Ted Stienecker, 69, entered thepleas at their arraignment at the Larson Justice Center in Indio, Brents on afelony charge of hit-and-run resulting in death or injury and Stienecker on afelony accessory count.
The Desert Hot Spring residents, both free on bail, were arrested May 6in connection with the crash that killed 16-year-old Zia Hoyos, and are nextdue in court June 12 for a felony settlement conference and a bail reviewhearing. Deputy District Attorney Karen Salas wants bail, now set at $5,000each, increased to $75,000 each. She said Zia’s family wants to speak at thebail hearing.
A group of Hoyos’ family and friend attended the arraignment, andbrought a large sign with her photo on it.
Stienecker attorney John Patrick Dolan told City News Service that it’s”very possible” that both defendants will plead guilty in the case next week.
“This is not a case of `whodunit’ — it’s what’s their level ofresponsibility,” Dolan said.
Arrest warrants were issued last month for the pair in the May 21, 2012,crash that killed Zia, according to Palm Springs police Sgt. Harvey Reed.
Someone reported a dead girl on North Gene Autry Trail, north of EastVia Escuela, about 1:35 a.m. that day.
According to a declaration filed by Palm Springs police Officer StephenWoodward in support of an arrest warrant, Brents “drank herself to blackout”while celebrating with friends. She dropped off her companions, then allegedlystruck and killed the pedestrian on Gene Autry on her way home.
She stopped several hundred feet down the road, didn’t see anythingbecause it was dark and went home, according to the declaration. Later thatmorning, she noticed damage to the front of her vehicle and panicked when shesaw news reports about Hoyos’ death, Woodward alleged.
Officer Eric Goya wrote in another declaration that Brents told herfather, the registered owner of the Toyota Tacoma pickup she was driving thatnight, that “she believed she was responsible for killing the girl on thenews.”
Stienecker removed the truck’s damaged front grille and covered thevehicle with a tarp, Goya alleged.
Neither called police, according to the officers.
A friend of Brents told police a few weeks after the crash that one ofher friends may have struck the girl, according to Woodward, who said Brentslater told investigators that she remembered hitting something.
Police found a piece of a Toyota Tacoma at the scene.
Dolan said Brents and Stienecker met with authorities four days afterthe crash and gave them complete statements.
“They have cooperated and been available to cooperate for the lastyear,” Dolan said.
According to court records, Stienecker has no criminal record inRiverside County; Brents pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor embezzlement charge in2009.
