Driver says she may have been asleep

In an interrogation video shown to jurors today, an Irvine woman on trial for vehicular manslaughter told detectives she should not have been driving and may have fallen asleep at the wheel when she fatally struck a Costa Mesa teacher two years ago.

Janene Johns, 53, was driving her silver 2006 Lexus down West Coast Highway to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian Aug. 23, 2006 when she swerved onto the sidewalk and hit 31-year-old Candace Tift, who was riding her bike. Tift, a popular fourth- and fifth-grade teacher at Eastbluff Elementary School, died the next day from severe head injuries.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Mestman showed jurors a video of Newport Beach detectives interviewing Johns at the station hours after the accident. Johns at first appeared distraught, breathing heavily and putting her forehead to an officer’s hand while asking if the woman she had hit was OK. She said she had taken sleeping pills, anti-congestion medicine and Xanax earlier in the day.

During the interview, she told detectives she didn’t remember anything from the accident. By the time she realized what was going on, her car had a shattered windshield and she could see a fountain of water in her rearview mirror from the fire hydrant she had run over. Johns told police she was on her way to the hospital because her shoulder hurt. In the video, she told Detective Bill Beverly she should have stayed home or had her daughter drive her to the hospital.

Jurors also heard testimony from Orange County Sheriff’s Department forensic scientist Mary Stanford that Johns could have been under the influence at the time of the crash.

Johns had enough of the sleeping pill Ambien and the cough suppressant Mucinex in her blood to be affected, Stanford testified. Stanford explained that unlike the amount of alcohol, the amount of a prescription drug in the bloodstream does not indicate intoxication because people develop different tolerances.

So, unlike with alcohol, where a blood-alcohol level of .08 would make someone legally intoxicated, authorities have to rely on physical symptoms like slurred speech or impaired coordination to determine intoxication from prescription medicines.

Defense Atty. Gary Pohlson told the judge that later this week he plans to bring in his own forensic scientist, who also tested some of Johns’ blood and had different results.

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at joseph.serna@latimes.com.