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Courts
San Tan Valley woman sentenced in drunk driving deaths
Pinal County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page
Janelle Littlebear
Posted
A San Tan Valley woman has been sentenced to 21 years in prison for a 2022 drunk driving crash that killed two people.
Pinal County Superior Court Judge Danielle Harris sentenced Janelle Littlebear, 39, on Aug. 11, according to a press release from the Pinal County Attorney’s Office. Littlebear pled guilty to two counts of manslaughter.
“On Aug. 13, 2022, Littlebear was driving her Toyota Camry northbound on Gantzel Road in San Tan Valley when she veered off the roadway onto the dirt shoulder before the vehicle traveled back sideways across the northbound lanes, onto the dirt median and collided with a southbound vehicle,” the release stated. “The driver and passenger in the southbound vehicle were pronounced deceased and identified as Richard Hanson, 78, and Kathleen Franta, 78.”
Witnesses told investigators that Littlebear was speeding before her car went off the roadway. Authorities drew Littlebear’s blood at a hospital and found her blood alcohol content level to be .271 – more than three times the legal limit, the release added.
This case was investigated by the Pinal County Sheriff's Office.
