Double-fatality case moves to trial
A Valencia woman charged with homicide in a double-fatality vehicle accident in May 2020 pleaded not guilty at her formal arraignment Monday.
Diane E. Read, 37, waived to an appearance in President Judge Thomas Doerr’s courtroom, allowing her to go through the procedure without having to appear in court for the procedure.
Read’s case now moves to trial unless a plea agreement is worked out. She remains free on an unsecured bond.
Read has been charged twice — once for each victim — with felony counts, including homicide by vehicle while driving drunk and homicide by vehicle. She has also been charged with two counts of misdemeanor involuntary manslaughter, along with summary offenses.
According to charging documents, Read was nearly twice the legal limit for alcohol May 17 when she drove a vehicle into the former CoGo’s building on Route 8 in Middlesex Township.
Her passengers, Kimberly Young, 39, and Patricia Collins, 36, died of injuries in the crash. Read had been hospitalized with injuries from the crash.
Read’s lawyer, Casey White, previously said that the victims were his client’s two closest friends.
