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Deputy's Wife Pleads Not Guilty To Charges In Fatal DUI Crash

MARTINEZ (KPIX 5) -- The wife of an Alameda County sheriff's deputy was in court Tuesday to answer to charges stemming from a September 2016 crash that killed a toddler.

Yarenit Malihan pleaded not guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter and DUI charges. She is facing up to 11 years in prison for the suspected DUI crash last September that killed a 3-year-old boy.

Police said Mailhan was on drugs when her SUV slammed into the back of Elijah Dunn's mother's car on the shoulder of I-680 in San Ramon.

But Malihan was released on bail the next day.

And that wasn't her first DUI-related run-in with the law. Three months earlier, she was arrested for DUI and child endangerment involving her own child.

She pleaded not guilty and was given a provisional driver's license just days before the deadly crash.

"The case is currently under investigation and we are making sure that we're making the right charging decisions as we proceed," said Deputy District Attorney Alison Chandler.

Most recently, police say Malihan was found lying on a sidewalk in Pleasanton, for which she is facing charges of public intoxication.

She turned herself in on the felony charges a few days later.

On Tuesday, her face was hidden behind her lawyer and mirrored glass as she pleaded not guilty during her arraignment.

Her bail is set at $3 million dollars. Her next court date is June 15.

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