Lake Elsinore woman guilty of murder in child's death
By: JOHN HALL - Staff Writer
Convicted four previous times of DUI, defendant was driving pickup that slammed into car | ∞
CORONA -- On this, her fifth drunken driving conviction, Michelle Lynne Coplen was found guilty of murder Wednesday for a crash that killed a 5-year-old Lake Elsinore girl.
As verdicts were read in a Corona courtroom, tears of relief flowed from members of the family of Sierra Heidrich. The girl died after a pickup driven by Coplen veered into oncoming traffic on Corydon Street and slammed into the vehicle in which Sierra was riding on Dec. 10, 2006.
Sierra was strapped into a back-seat booster seat in a Nissan Sentra driven by her aunt, Amber Heidrich. They were headed home that night after making, wrapping and exchanging Christmas gifts earlier in the day, Amber Heidrich testified at the trial.
"Overwhelmed" was how Anita Heidrich, the girl's grandmother, described the feeling upon hearing that Coplen was guilty.
"We are all relieved that she won't be able to do something like this again," she said.
The eight-woman, four-man jury started deliberating Tuesday morning and advised the court they had verdicts shortly after their lunch break Wednesday afternoon.
Anita Heidrich said the family had been on "pins and needles" once the deliberations began. "We've been praying and praying," she said. "Sierra was the joy of my life."
Desiree Miller, Sierra's 23-year-old aunt, was among several family members who sat through much of the trial. She said it was "very difficult to watch" a lot of the testimony concerning the death of her niece.
With tears still welling up in her eyes, Miller smiled as she talked about Sierra, remembering what she called the little girl's catch phrase.
"She used to always say, 'Thank you, Jesus, for all the love in my heart,'" Miller recalled.
Jurors found Coplen, 38, of Lake Elsinore, guilty of second-degree murder, along with five other felonies and two misdemeanors. Coplen could be sent to prison for 25 years to life when she returns to court next month to be sentenced.
The prosecution filed the murder count because of Coplen's four previous misdemeanor drunken driving convictions. Deputy District Attorney Chris Bouffard told jurors during the trial that Coplen had to know the dangers of drinking and driving but still did so the night of the fatal crash.
When asked outside the courtroom Wednesday about those four prior convictions and if he thought Coplen may have slipped through the cracks of the justice system, the prosecutor responded:
"This reflects that we live in a very tolerant society. And there will always be people who take advantage of society's tolerance," Bouffard said. "The (justice) system can't make somebody care."
During the trial, Coplen's defense attorney, Renee Rupp, hoped to convince the jury that her client either was not driving or that she was not intoxicated when the crash happened. She contended that the man with Coplen that night, Thomas Hendrix -- whose father owned the pickup -- was driving.
Hendrix also was interviewed by police and said Coplen was driving. He testified during the trial, telling jurors he was drunk the entire weekend and now remembers nothing about the night of the crash.
Jurors said outside the courtroom Wednesday that Hendrix had no credibility at all to them as a witness.
The most convincing evidence for them, they all agreed, was Coplen's own statements made during an interview with Lake Elsinore police just hours after the crash.
During the videotaped interview, Coplen admitted several times that she was driving, not Hendrix. She was given multiple chances to change her story, including after an officer told her that a young girl might die.
"It was just overwhelming," one juror said of the evidence against Coplen.
The 49-year-old Riverside man, who asked that his name not be used, said jurors listened to Coplen's entire interview during deliberations.
The juror said he and his fellow jurors did not believe the defense argument that Coplen was not intoxicated and that all the jurors believed she knew the dangers of drinking and driving from her previous convictions.
The prosecutor commended the jury for getting past what he called a confusing defense theory.
"It was designed to be confusing, but (jurors) stayed with the evidence and took a dangerous person off the street," Bouffard said.
"But nothing can bring Sierra Heidrich back, and that's an injustice," he said.
-- Contact staff writer John Hall at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2628, or jhall@californian.com.
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What The .........!!!!! wrote on Jan 31, 2008 6:23 AM:Convicted four times. Attention everyone, this could have been your child or someone close to you. Get the system to stiffen laws even more for being under the influence and being dangeruos to others. It's Ok until someone gets hurt is pure BS. FOUR CONVICTIONS. FOUR. Something is very wrong with our system.
misdemeanors? wrote on Jan 31, 2008 7:14 AM:How do you get FOUR misdemeanor DUIs?! After the first they should ALL be felonies and you should do hard time. Maybe a few more people would be alive today if some prosecutors had the ... to charge people with what they deserve.
Murrieta Resident wrote on Jan 31, 2008 7:51 AM:The DA needs to go back to the previous DA's and the judges that let this woman receive misdemeanors for DUI, 4 times, and prosecute them for this childs death. This woman should not have even been on the road, no car no license, nothing but a bus pass. And what type of person, who has gotten caught 4 times for DUI's, continues to drink? Perhaps a VERY long prison term will fix that problem.
Wizard of Oz wrote on Jan 31, 2008 8:24 AM:DUI first offense, FELONY...PRISON, at least 3 years on first offense. Second offense 10 years in prison, after that, life. We need to protect ourselves against these DUI murders...
25 to life... wrote on Jan 31, 2008 8:40 AM:now thats a sentence I would like to see take effect in this situation...perhaps then this person will have time to reflect on her life as a habitual DUI recepient & how truly lucky she was that she only created one human being to loose their life. She doesn't realize how lucky she truly is. Unfortunately, it appears that she will never know the kind of pain & agony she embedded this family with as she still isn't seeing herself as the guilty party here, how sad in itself, perhaps during her time behind bars (no pun intended) she'll have time to realize how blessed she truly is to have her life still. RIP, Sierra :)
Anonymous wrote wrote on Jan 31, 2008 9:18 AM:I totally agree with the first three comments. I,too, am alcoholic who has been sober and clean for over 34 years, I was spared a tragedy like this one but not by much! Nearly 35 years ago my alcoholic husband was in hospital (alcoholic dt's) and I read Alcoholics Anonymous literature while I waited for visiting hours and realized that my blackout drinking and hangovers and near car wrecks weren't just social drinking effects. AA works, it's free, no dues or fees, only requirement for membership is a DESIRE to stop drinking (nobody can do it for you). There are meetings everywhere, TOTALLY ANONYMOUS in case you're in a profession or ashamed, number is in phone book or newspapers or throw away ad papers. MAKE THE CALL TODAY and go to a meeting. Read the literature and LEARN. You might be able to save yourself or someone else's life. EVERYBODY knows somebody who drinks too much and you might be able to help. IF YOU'RE NOT PART OF THE SOLUTION THEN YOU'RE PART OF THE PROBLEM!
Another Angel in heaven wrote on Jan 31, 2008 10:11 AM:She used to always say, 'Thank you, Jesus, for all the love in my heart. God Bless you Sierra. May God wrap His loving arms around your family.
What the.......!!!!!! wrote on Jan 31, 2008 11:30 AM:It's kind like it is a misdemeanor until you hurt or kill someone. Sort of like when there is a dangeruos intersection that needs a traffic light but doesn't get so much as a stop sign until someone finally gets killed. Great system. Anyone want to help fix it??
The system wrote on Jan 31, 2008 12:59 PM:What all of you do not realize is that as soon as they make DUIs a felony, it opens the door to put away people for "intent to cause harm". How to prove somebody intended to or could have caused harm? Are you willing to go to prison because your neighbor said that you were planning on hurting them? It sucks, but the reality is, even if she served hard time, she probably would have still done it. Fear of prosecution obviously did not phase her decisions.
My friend told me... wrote on Jan 31, 2008 6:09 PM:that drinking alcohol lowers your inhibitions and she was right. She and her husband stayed sober for about 10 years and then decided to do some 'controlled drinking' and her hubby shot her during a drinking bout and she nearly died. While she was sober she was the one who told me that "Alcohol lowers your inhibitions and some people need every inhibition we've got!"
What the.........!!!!!!! wrote on Feb 1, 2008 1:16 PM:If your neighbor commits an act......say, throws a harpoon through your family room window. I would say they committed an act intending to do harm. The act here is drinking to much and driving,knowing before you get drunk you could possibly harm or kill someone if you do this. My 8 year old knows this. Irresponsible use of alcohol. She commited an act that ended up in harm. I don't know if the other four times she just got pulled over because she was driving STUPID or if perhaps she hit a sign post or tipped a fire hydrant. The point is, after the first time, which could be a misdemeanor if there was no harm to people or property. But, any subsequent convictions,this person should have done hard time and not been in a position to get behind the wheel for a long time if not ever.
????? wrote on Feb 4, 2008 5:45 PM:What happened to calling for a RIDE???? If you know your going to drink be prepared to be drunk!!!! They still have Taxi's around here!!!!!
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