Mother gets prison term in son’s death

A Costa Mesa woman was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison after pleading guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

Julie Smith, 46, was not taken into custody Thursday, but is scheduled to turn herself in to authorities on Feb. 5, said Farrah Emami, spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney’s office.

On Aug. 8, Smith was returning from a friend’s home in Laguna Niguel with her 6-year-old son Trevor when she crashed her Lexus into a guardrail on the Corona del Mar Freeway (73).

Authorities said she was traveling at about 90 mph while trying to pass slower traffic by using the right shoulder of the 73 Freeway.

Trevor was killed when the force of impact split the car in two and threw him from the vehicle onto the road, Emami said.

It was later found that Smith was driving under the influence of alcohol, methamphetamines, marijuana and two prescription drugs with a blood alcohol level of 0.14. The legal limit is 0.08.