Alleged Drunk Driver in Fatal Crash May Have Been at Almost Five Times Legal Limit

BOSTON, April 8, 2014—The woman who killed 7-year-old Brianna Rosales and seriously injured the girl’s mother in an alleged drunk-driving crash may have been operating at almost five times the legal limit, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

OLIVIA MORA (D.O.B. 7/19/77) of Dorchester was arraigned today on charges of manslaughter, motor vehicle homicide while operating under the influence, causing serious bodily injury while operating under the influence, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and leaving the scene of an accident causing property damage.

At the request of Assistant District Attorney Masai King, Suffolk Superior Court Clerk Magistrate Gary Wilson imposed $150,000 cash bail – the amount set after a district court order that she be held without bail was modified by another judge.

Mora is accused of driving drunk in a white Chevrolet Tahoe just after 2:00 p.m. on Nov. 26. King told the court that she rear-ended a Pontiac on Geneva Avenue and did not stop, instead continuing into the wrong lane of Geneva Avenue toward Bowdoin Street.

While driving in excess of the 30 m.p.h. speed limit, King said, Mora took a left onto Olney Street, where the victims were walking. Mora allegedly plowed into a parked car, knocking it about six feet forward, then struck a fire hydrant. She continued driving until she struck Rosales and her mother.

Rosales was mortally injured and died at Boston Medical Center. Her mother suffered life-threatening injuries but survived after months of hospitalization.

In the aftermath of the collision, Mora declined to take a Breathalyzer test. Such tests are always optional under Massachusetts law, and juries are never told that a defendant opted not to take one. Because Mora showed signs of impairment and failed a series of field sobriety tests, however, investigators took the unusual step of obtaining a search warrant authorizing a blood sample to determine her level of intoxication.

Massachusetts State Police criminalists tested the sample and determined that Mora’s blood-alcohol content was .125 – about one and a half times the legal limit – some nine hours after the crash. Using retrograde extrapolation to determine her BAC at the time of the crash, criminalists believe she was at between .188 and .386 when she struck Rosales and her mother.

Jillian Quigley is the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. Mora is represented by attorney John Powers. She is scheduled for a bail review by videolink on April 29 and a pre-trial conference on May 22.

 

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.