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An El Dorado County Court Judge dropped a murder charge against a Placerville woman involved in a 2008 crash that killed her on-again, off-again boyfriend.
El Dorado County Superior Court Judge dismissed the murder charge against Melissa Nichols during a hearing in South Lake Tahoe on Friday afternoon.
Nichols still faces charges of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and two counts of driving under the influence causing injury for her involvement in the Aug. 15, 2008, crash.
The case will return to Placerville starting on Jan. 4, when attorneys will argue whether the evidence presented against Nichols during a preliminary hearing in January 2008 is enough to take the remaining charges against Nichols to trial.
Prosecutors allege that, following an argument, Nichols drove her silver Pontiac Grand Am into 23-year-old Anthony Payne while he was riding a motorcycle on Carson Road in Camino.
Nichols said she drank three or four 24-ounce beers over a period of a couple hours the day of the crash.
Payne had just bought the motorcycle that day, did not have a motorcycle drivers license and was under the influence of methamphetamine at the time of the incident, according to court documents.
A female passenger in Nichols' car was also injured in the crash.
Deputy District Attorney Gloria Mas said she made the motion to drop the murder charge after receiving new information in the case.
Mas declined to say what the new information in the case was, but in April, Judge Suzanne Kingsbury gave Mas 90 days to get members of the California Highway Patrol's Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team to scrutinize the collision.
The case was moved to South Lake Tahoe from Placerville in January, following a defense challenge to the judge in the case.
The challenge was made only because the initial judge on the case was about to retire and did not want to become involved in a lengthy trial, Mas said.
El Dorado County Superior Court Judge dismissed the murder charge against Melissa Nichols during a hearing in South Lake Tahoe on Friday afternoon.
Nichols still faces charges of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and two counts of driving under the influence causing injury for her involvement in the Aug. 15, 2008, crash.
The case will return to Placerville starting on Jan. 4, when attorneys will argue whether the evidence presented against Nichols during a preliminary hearing in January 2008 is enough to take the remaining charges against Nichols to trial.
Prosecutors allege that, following an argument, Nichols drove her silver Pontiac Grand Am into 23-year-old Anthony Payne while he was riding a motorcycle on Carson Road in Camino.
Nichols said she drank three or four 24-ounce beers over a period of a couple hours the day of the crash.
Payne had just bought the motorcycle that day, did not have a motorcycle drivers license and was under the influence of methamphetamine at the time of the incident, according to court documents.
A female passenger in Nichols' car was also injured in the crash.
Deputy District Attorney Gloria Mas said she made the motion to drop the murder charge after receiving new information in the case.
Mas declined to say what the new information in the case was, but in April, Judge Suzanne Kingsbury gave Mas 90 days to get members of the California Highway Patrol's Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team to scrutinize the collision.
The case was moved to South Lake Tahoe from Placerville in January, following a defense challenge to the judge in the case.
The challenge was made only because the initial judge on the case was about to retire and did not want to become involved in a lengthy trial, Mas said.
