Corona, CA: Drunk driver who killed Orland girl found guilty of manslaughter

A Riverside County jury found a Corona woman guilty of involuntary manslaughter today in a head-on crash which killed an Orland woman in February, 2008.

Elva Diaz, 32, has been on trial in the 2008 drunken driving collision that killed 19-year-old Rachel Elliott, a 2007 graduate of Orland High School. She was killed in Corona, where she was living with relatives while attending college.

Riverside County District Attorney's spokesman John Hall said the jury also found Diaz guilty of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and guilty of driving on a suspended license.

She was found not guilty on a charge of second-degree murder.

Prosecutors said Diaz, a former paramedic who did not have a prior DUI conviction, was warned not to drive drunk before she got on the road.

Elliott previously played the part of a drunken driving victim at her high school's "Every 15 Minutes" awareness program. She was killed eight months later.

Sentencing in the case is scheduled for Aug. 5. Hall said Diaz could receive an upward term sentence of 10 years in state prison.