A 48-year-old twice-convicted drunk driver was charged Tuesday with a deadly crash in Dana Point.
Serene Francie Rosenberg of Dana Point was charged with second-degree murder, driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury and driving under the influence with a blood-alcohol level at or above the legal limit of .08% causing injury.
Rosenberg was accused of killing 88-year-old Melvin Joseph Weibel of Dana Point in Friday night’s head-on crash of a Land Rover SUV and Ford Transit van at Golden Lantern and Stonehill Drive.
Rosenberg was driving the Land Rover west on Stonehill when she turned against a red arrow signal in front of the van, which was headed eastbound on Stonehill, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
The van’s driver was taken to a hospital to be treated for serious, but not life-threatening injuries, deputies said. Weibel was a passenger in the van.
Rosenberg pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of driving with a blood-alcohol level of .08% or more on Feb. 22, 2011. She pleaded guilty Jan. 20, 2012, to misdemeanor counts of child abuse and endangerment, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and driving with a blood-alcohol content of .08% or more.
The prior drunken driving convictions allow prosecutors to escalate what would usually be a voluntary manslaughter case to second-degree murder. Manslaughter convictions carry a punishment of a finite term in prison, but murder mandates a life sentence, meaning the defendant would have to petition for release from a parole board.