SAN DIEGO COURTS –
A mother who, along with her son, was shot and wounded by an off-duty San Diego police officer after an apparent road-rage incident pleaded guilty yesterday to felony child endangerment and misdemeanor drunken driving.
Additional misdemeanor charges against Rachel Silva, 28, were dropped as part of a plea agreement, said Silva's attorney, Michael Pancer.
“My main concern from the beginning was to make sure that she got the help she needed and that's been accomplished,” Pancer said.
The charges stem from a March 15 incident in a parking lot in Oceanside. Silva got into a confrontation with Officer Frank White, who fired five shots at Silva's Honda, striking Silva twice in the arm and wounding her young son in the left knee.
Silva's sentencing in San Diego Superior Court is scheduled for March, but it will be postponed until after she finishes a one-year residential drug rehabilitation program she entered in May, said supervising Deputy Attorney General Jim Dutton, who prosecuted the case.
Silva, of Oceanside, faces four years in state prison on the felony charge. As part of the plea agreement, a second drunken-driving count and charges of possession of marijuana, driving under a suspended license and driving on a license suspended for a previous DUI conviction were dropped.
Dutton said it was important that Silva accepted responsibility at an early stage of the case.
“It's a good result,” he said.
Prosecutors will see how well Silva does in her program and will take that into consideration when they recommend a sentence to the judge, Dutton said.
White, 28, also faces charges in the case. He is charged with grossly negligent discharge of a firearm, a felony, and a misdemeanor count of exhibiting a firearm. He faces up to nine years in prison if convicted.
Last week, he was ordered to stand trial in Vista Superior Court.
His attorney, Rick Pinckard, said that the case is clearly one of self-defense and that Silva was entirely at fault for assaulting White and his wife with her car.
Debbi Baker: (619) 293-1710; debbi.baker@uniontrib.com
