News release from Mono County District Attorney’s office
During the early evening of September 7th, defendant Amelia Markarian, age 65, of Mammoth Lakes, was driving northbound on Highway 395, just south of Highway 89 in Mono County.
Due to her intoxication she failed to negotiate a right-hand turn and crossed over the solid yellow line dividing the roadway. She collided head-on into the victim’s vehicle, being driven southbound by Coleville resident Christopher Harper, killing him instantly.
Further investigation revealed that Ms. Markarian had a blood-alcohol level over the legal limit.
She was charged by the Mono County District Attorney’s office with second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving while under the influence of alcohol and with a blood-alcohol level of .08 or more and causing great bodily injury.
She was arraigned on September 12th in the Bridgeport courthouse, and pled not guilty. She is being held on $2,000,000 bail. Her next court date is October 10th.
It seems the conversations here as on most sites these days is a flux of arguments regarding peoples rights and the such. What about Chris Harper’s rights ?? His rights have been silenced. He was a Believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. A hard working husband and father..belonged to my… Read more »
Please look at this woman’s face. It is ravaged by alcohol and maybe even drugs. She’ll never be able to stop driving drunk because her face says she can’t stop drinking.
stoopid…..instead of a big mouth,take your stance….find and seek out the next checkpoint…..get to it,refuse to open your window and go through your motions….see how it ends up for you,as your crying about being inconstitutional…..and let us all know how it turns out for you at the Inyo County jail… Read more »
From what I heard this is her second fatal DUI. I think she already had her mulligan!!
No way, really?!!
You heard wrong Scott Castaldy.
How many people are killed in car accidents each year? Mabye cars should be illegal? Cant switch gears if your stuck on stoopid!!! Check points are unconstitutional, end of story.
stoopid, take your argument up with the 9th circuit court of appeals.
“End of story.”
It’s a crying shame that an intoxicated person can have a head-on collision and kill a completely innocent person, and they themselves come out of it, completely unscathed .
Yep,Rick…..sad how it seems to always happen that way instead of the other way around…
It’s always the innocent that get manned or killed by some selfish drunkard! Tougher laws on duii would be a great start 2 duii ~~~~~~~lose your license for life. Way to many families lives ruined forever because some drunk idiot decides to drive drunk !!
Trouble….like Tinner says above….think of someone else besides yourself….speaking for myself,it wouldn’t bother me one bit if I had to go through 2 minute check-points everyday(unless,of course,if I was drinking and driving ) if it meant keeping some drunks off the highway and preventing these types of accidents…but understand,in this… Read more »
INYOFACE…..you say “she never meant to kill that guy “…..are you trying to be funny ?…maybe seen as a “minority of accidents” to you,but doubt Mr.Harper’s family sees it that way….what do you suggest ?…should Mono County give her a mulligan with this one,since she’s a senior citizen and “didn’t… Read more »
No Tinner, if guilty she should be made a example of our justice system. I shouldn’t be forced to prove my inacents because others choose to break the law.
Same for you…
https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html
Look at the examples on the link, people still aren’t learning, people are still driving drunk and innocent people are still dying because of them. I’ll admit that I think there are too many people on this planet, but why do the innocent have to die a bloody, mangled mess… Read more »
It’s an question of rights. It’s a belief that their rights are being trampled when they are subjected to a DUI checkpoint, even though courts have repeatedly ruled to the contrary. Yet some folks still cling to the erroneous notion that they’re being treated unfairly.
And some don’t.
Yeah , That,s the ticket . Take our rights away because of a minority of accidents , she never meant to kill that guy . But you would love to see a Road Block with Big Brother at every intersection .
Just another Ant on the Hill. No Thanks.
Pure ignorance.
In 2015, 10,265 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (29%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States.
Of the 1, 1,132 traffic deaths among children ages 0 to 14 years in 2015, 209 (16%) involved an alcohol-impaired driver.
https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html
These stats are misleading. Even incidents where the driver who was determined to be “impaired” was NOT at fault are included, and then it’s implied the fatality was directly related to the impairment. The inflated stats will then be used to justify more money flowing to law enforcement, and more… Read more »
More dui checkpoints, please. To those of you who feel DUI checkpoints are unconstitutional, you know who you are. Try and look at the big picture, try and think of somebody other than yourself and try and be a little more willing to “Dedicate a share of your efforts to… Read more »