Jury acquits woman charged in crash that killed 5

By The Associated Press
Friday, June 15, 2012

BRIGHTON – An Adams County jury has acquitted a woman charged with criminally negligent homicide and child abuse in a crash that killed five people in Thornton.

Monica Chavez was acquitted Friday.

Chavez apparently suffered a seizure-like episode while driving on Feb. 17, 2011. Authorities say her SUV crashed and landed on a pickup truck carrying Randy and Crystaldawn Stollsteimer and their three children, ages 7, 9 and 12. The couple and their children were killed.

Prosecutors alleged Chavez was criminally negligent because she had suffered seizure-like episodes in 2006 and 2010 but continued to drive.

Defense lawyers argued the crash was a tragic accident, not a crime.