An off-duty police trainee accused of crashing into and killing a fellow Palm Springs Police Department employee while driving under the influence pleaded not guilty Friday to second-degree murder and other offenses.
Juliana Leigh Granados, 25, of Cathedral City allegedly killed 31-year-old PSPD Community Services Officer Nicholas Griego on Thanksgiving.
Along with murder, Granados is charged with DUI gross vehicular manslaughter.
She was arraigned before Riverside County Superior Court Judge Arthur Hester, who set a felony settlement conference for Jan. 22 at the Larson Justice Center in Indio.
Granados is being held without bail at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.
According to the Cathedral City Police Department, just before noon on Nov. 28, the defendant was going through the intersection of Cathedral Canyon and East Palm Canyon drives in her pickup when she allegedly plowed into the rear of Griego’s motorcycle.
Granados immediately stopped.
Paramedics reached the location a short time later and pronounced Griego, a father of one, dead at the scene.
Granados was detained and questioned at the scene but not arrested. Over the ensuing weeks, Cathedral City police detectives worked the case, accumulating sufficient evidence to seek and obtain a criminal complaint from the District Attorney’s Office.
The defendant was taken into custody without incident Wednesday afternoon and booked into jail. PSPD officials released a statement the same day, saying Granados had been suspended without pay while an “internal personnel investigation” is conducted.
PSPD Chief Any Mills said he was “deeply disappointed by the actions that led to the heartbreaking loss of one of our staff members.”
“We are taking swift action to address this matter appropriately,” he said.
It was unclear where Granados had been just prior to the deadly collision, and details on when she was hired, as well as other background information, were not disclosed.