Woman Gets 13-Year Term in Drunk Driving Death

Calling her a danger to society, a judge sentenced a drunk driver Tuesday to 13 years in prison for using a spare key to flee a police stop before smashing into the back of a family station wagon, killing a father and injuring three others.

Lisa Welchert, 30, of Pasadena, was sentenced for gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in the February 1999 incident in Arcadia. Before pronouncing the punishment, Pasadena Superior Court Judge Joseph DeVanon cited Welchert’s history of drunk driving and said she “callously” got behind the wheel with the highest blood-alcohol level he had ever seen. “When you drink and you drive, you are as dangerous as anyone in society,” he told Welchert, after witnessing her tearful apology to the grieving widow of John Chan, the victim.

Testimony at Welchert’s trial showed she had a blood-alcohol level of between 0.38 and 0.42--more than five times the legal limit. Besides the charge of gross vehicular manslaughter, a jury convicted her last month of driving under the influence, causing bodily injury and driving with a blood-alcohol level of more than 0.35.

Jurors, however, deadlocked 8 to 4 in favor of acquittal on a second-degree murder charge. Her attorney asserted she was too drunk to form criminal intent when she killed Chan.

Prosecutors Monday decided not to retry Welchert on the murder charge but argued for the maximum sentence on the other charges. DeVanon complied.

Before her sentencing, a trembling Welchert spoke to Grace Chan, the victim’s widow.

“I am so sorry, Mrs. Chan. I would do anything to change places with Mr. Chan,” said Welchert, facing Grace Chan, who sobbed.

“I deserve to die, not him,” said Welchert, who read from a letter she later gave to Chan. “I am constantly questioning God, as to why he didn’t take me instead.”

Moments later, Grace Chan told the court about her lasting memory of the drive with her son and her 44-year-old husband a block from their family home. “I will never forget the scene when the white cloth was draped over the car,” she recalled.

“This incident has shattered a lot of dreams,” she said. “I hope she will never drink again and shatter anyone else’s dreams.”

Welchert was detained on Huntington Drive on Feb. 9, 1999 by Arcadia police after reports she was driving too slowly for traffic. An officer took her keys and walked back to his patrol car to fill out paperwork. Welchert, who was prone on the passenger side of her car, suddenly sat up, pulled out a spare key and sped off.

A mile away her car rammed into Chan’s station wagon, killing him instantly and injuring his wife and son. She also hit a second car, and its driver was hospitalized.

During the trial, jurors heard testimony that Welchert had a 1993 conviction for drunk driving in Washington state, had twice received alcohol counseling and eight years ago attempted to use a spare key to flee Washington state authorities.