By Larissa Theodore
Herald Staff Writer

A Hermitage woman charged with vehicular homicide and vehicular manslaughter in the January car crash death of a 71-year old woman pleaded guilty Tuesday.

Catherine Settlemire, 41, of 630 Chesapeake Court, pleaded guilty in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court in Warren to reduced charges of vehicular homicide -- a first-degree misdemeanor -- in the death of Yvonne Edwards, 5070 Cassidy Road, Hermitage, according to a court clerk.

The vehicular manslaughter charge was dismissed and a pre-sentencing investigation was ordered, the clerk said.

Ms. Settlemire faces up to six months in jail and a five year license suspension. Her sentence will be determined after the probation office completes the investigation.

Ms. Settlemire was charged Jan. 28 by the Ohio Highway Patrol after a Jan. 26 crash on Standard Avenue in Masury.

Police said a car driven by Ms. Settlemire crossed the center line and hit a car driven by Margaret "Peg" Snyder, 72, Stevenson Road, Masury. Mrs. Edwards, a passenter in Mrs. Snyder's car, died the next day of accident-related injuries, police said.

Ms. Settlemire was originally charged with aggravated vehicular homicide and aggravated vehicular assault, but the charges were reduced to misdemeanors by a Trumbull County Grand Jury in February after results of a Breathalyzer and field sobriety tests administered by police were thrown out.

The Breathalyzer machine, which measures blood alcohol levels, was overdue for a state-mandated calibration test when Ms. Settlemire was tested after the crash. An Ohio Highway Patrol report on the wreck said Ms. Settlemire said she had "four or five beers" and her blood alcohol level was 0.144. Ohio's legal limit is 0.1. Field sobriety tests were thrown out because Ms. Settlemire broke her ankle in the crash, prosectors said.