Sidney Whitmarsh offered 30-year plea deal for fatal hit and run, doesn’t accept
Meanwhile Stephanie Whitmarsh, accused of helping her daughter flee the state, is also facing felony theft charges in a separate case
Sidney Whitmarsh was back in court on Tuesday for a preliminary demand hearing in the hit-and-run case that claimed the life of bicyclist Mario Vildozola Romero.
Whitmarsh, 24, has been charged with a pair of felonies after being accused of hitting and killing Romero with her car and leaving the scene during the early morning hours of Jan. 7.
Whitmarsh’s attorney, Coleen O’Leary, told Judge Inga Causey that she has met with the prosecution on several occasions, and Whitmarsh had been offered a plea deal of 30 years in the Department of Corrections.
“Thirty years for a woman who has no criminal history, zero,” O’Leary said Tuesday. “So we are fighting this case.”
Romero was found on Jan. 9 on the north side of U.S. Highway 6 in Edwards, 21 feet off the road down an embankment.
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In investigating the crash, Colorado State Patrol used video footage, debris left at the scene and information from Whitmarsh’s phone to put together an alleged timeline of what happened. Colin Remillard, a trooper with Colorado State Patrol, said there’s probable cause to show that Whitmarsh hit Romero at around 1:20 a.m. Jan. 7, left the scene, returned to her residence in Edwards, and then left the state late that night or early the next morning.
Remillard used text messages obtained from Whitmarsh’s phone to allege that Whitmarsh’s mother, Stephanie Whitmarsh, drove her daughter to a Costco in Wichita, Kansas, where her father, Arkansas resident Cean Whitmarsh, picked her up.
Whitmarsh was arrested on March 21 in Clarendon, Arkansas, and charged with a class-3 felony for failure to remain at the scene of a crash resulting in death, a class-6 felony for tampering with physical evidence, a class-3 felony for vehicular homicide, and a class-2 misdemeanor for failure to notify the police of a traffic accident resulting in death. She has been in jail in Eagle County since May 3.
Stephanie Whitmarsh and Cean Whitmarsh were charged with accessory-to-crime felonies, and a fourth alleged accomplice, Jaime Ledezma, was also arrested and charged with accessory and other felonies. All three were released on bond.
Stephanie Whitmarsh was also in court on Tuesday for a disposition hearing; while out on bond for her alleged involvement in her daughter’s case, she was arrested for a different alleged incident and charged with felony theft, cybercrime and unauthorized use of a financial transaction device.
Stephanie Whitmarsh is scheduled to appear in court for both cases on Nov. 12.
Sidney Whitmarsh is scheduled to appear in court again on Oct. 2 for a preliminary hearing.
