Cash pleads not guilty in fatal crash

PORT ORCHARD — A Belfair woman suspected of driving while under the influence of both alcohol and drugs before crashing into and killing a Silverdale woman on SR 166 earlier this month was charged Tuesday in Kitsap County Superior Court.

Tera Lawanna Cash, 29, pleaded not guilty to one count of vehicular homicide, a felony carrying a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Cash, who suffered skull fractures in the Jan. 6 accident and had only been released from Harrison Hospital Monday afternoon, was allowed to sit rather than stand before Judge Jay B. Roof for her arraignment.

On the recommendation of Kitsap County Deputy Prosecutor Chris Casad, who described Cash as a flight risk since she had no verifiable address and had recently been fired, Roof doubled the defendant’s bail to $100,000.

Cash was arrested Jan. 14 at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma by Washington State Patrol troopers and booked into Kitsap County Jail. However, before she could be arraigned, she was transported to Harrison for further care. According to court documents, she remained in Harrison under the supervision of a jail guard until Monday afternoon.

According to the WSP, the crash occurred at approximately 9:35 p.m., when Cash’s eastbound 2005 Toyota Tacoma pickup crossed the centerline of SR 166 between Port Orchard and Gorst, crashing nearly head-on into Nicole Daniels, who was westbound in a 1995 Toyota 4Runner.

Daniels, 27, died at the scene, while her passenger, 19-year-old Phillip Cobb of Kansas, suffered serious, but not life-threatening, injuries.

Cash was transported to Tacoma from the scene.

According to court documents, a trooper investigating the scene described Cash as reeking of alcohol, and later discovered a marijuana cigarette and rolling papers in her car.

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