A Lyon County woman waived a preliminary hearing Wednesday and is expected to plead guilty later this month to charges she was high on meth when she ran head-on into another vehicle as she drove on the wrong side of Highway 50 East in Stagecoach, killing one and injuring another.
In exchange for guilty pleas to felony driving under the influence of drugs causing death and driving under the influence of drugs causing substantial bodily harm, two lesser charges of reckless driving will be dismissed.
According to court documents, a toxicology report indicates Sanchez, 37, had 670 nanograms of methamphetamine in her system on Jan. 28 when she drove her Mercury sedan west in the eastbound lanes 7 miles east of Dayton.
Under Nevada law, a person is considered impaired when driving if their blood contains 100 nanograms of methamphetamine per milliliter of blood.
According to the Nevada Highway Patrol, Sanchez's vehicle collided head-on with an eastbound Ford Tempo, killing passenger Carole Marie Ernst Caron, 51, of Silver Springs, and critically injuring driver Cindy Leon, 32.
The Carson City District Attorney Neil Rombardo is handling the case for Lyon County because Lyon County prosecutors just tried Caron's husband in an unrelated case.
Sanchez was arrested on the charges in August after blood tests came back. She remains in the Lyon County Jail on $40,000 bail.
Each charge carries a penalty of two to 20 years in prison.
