An Arcata woman pleaded no contest Friday to felony vehicular manslaughter in exchange for a maximum sentence of two years in prison for driving over a San Mateo County cliff while under the influence of alcohol, resulting in the death of a passenger in her vehicle, prosecutors said.
Madeline St. Pierre, 26, was originally charged with vehicular manslaugter, driving under the influence resulting in injury to another and driving with a BAC of higher than 0.08% resulting in injury to another, each with enhancements for causing great bodily injury, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office
San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe said that he was “satisfied” with the plea, adding that the dropped charges were alternative counts and would not have had an impact on her sentence.
“We’re dealing with somebody who doesn’t have a record, as I understand it, but on the other side of it, Mr. Vargas died, so because of her negligence in the way she was driving — by driving too fast — somebody lost their life,” Wagstaffe said. “I do think that the two-year sentence limitation is a reasonable sentence, and that’s what we’re going to be asking for.”
St. Pierre also admitted to two allegations of serious felonies, which do not add any time to the sentence but would make any future felony charges count as a second strike case, Wagstaffe added.
“I’m sad for Mr. Vargas — he lost his life over all this, and Ms. St. Pierre has to live with that for the rest of her life, plus she had her own injuries, too, to deal with,” Wagstaffe said.
Lauren Potter, St. Pierre’s defense attorney, said that St. Pierre is “taking full responsibility” and has “made some significant changes in her personal life,” including starting nursing school.
“Miss St. Pierre is extremely remorseful about this incident,” Potter said. “She’s one of the people that takes this incident extremely seriously — can’t really even describe how sorry she feels for the victim’s family, and she’s really taking steps to turn things around, and to more than just turn things around, try to give back to the community, in a sense, to sort of atone.”
At about 10 p.m. on Oct. 12, 2023, St. Pierre was driving a 2021 Kia on Pescadero Creek Road toward Highway 1 “at an unsafe speed,” prosecutors said. St. Pierre drove through a stop sign and into the parking lot of a state beach, where she then crashed into the metal guardrail and went over the edge of a cliff.
St. Pierre’s car landed in the water at the bottom of the 40-foot cliff, prosecutors said.
Emergency response workers responded to the scene after passersby called 911, prosecutors said.
Nicolas Vargas, a 29-year-old resident of Watsonville, had been riding in the back seat. St. Pierre and a female passenger who had been sitting in the front seat attempted to pull Vargas out of the water, prosecutors said.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
St. Pierre had a fractured tailbone and the female passenger suffered a fractured wrist in the crash, prosecutors added.
Officers who responded to the incident reported that St. Pierre was showing signs of being under the influence and smelled like alcohol, prosecutors added. When her BAC was measured about three hours and 15 minutes after the crash, it was .029 percent, officials said.
The case was continued to Jan. 12 at 9 a.m. for sentencing. St. Pierre remains out of custody on a $50,000 bail bond.
