Driver pleads guilty in DUI crash that killed 2

A woman charged with the death of a Scotts Valley man pleaded guilty to manslaughter and drunken driving this week and will be sentenced to 26 years in state prison.
Sherri Lee Chinn, a 39-year-old transient from Santa Cruz, pleaded guilty to two counts of voluntary manslaughter and one count of driving under the influence of alcohol.
She will be sentenced Sept. 15.
Chinn will serve at least 85 percent of the 26-year sentence, according to the Santa Cruz District Attorney’s Office, which amounts to roughly 22 years.
Jose Absalon Barrientos of Scotts Valley was killed on his way to a family picnic when a Honda Odyssey van crashed head-on into his Harley-Davidson motorcycle Nov. 1, 2009, on Highway 1.
The van, driven by Chinn, first hit the motorcycle and then veered into a car driven by Barrientos’ wife, Sandy, 27.
The family had recently moved from San Jose to a mobile home park in Scotts Valley. Jose and Sandy Barrientos, newly married, were taking their 7-month-old daughter to a picnic after attending church.
The infant was not hurt, but Sandy Barrientos had minor injuries.
Chinn has two past convictions for driving under the influence. Her blood-alcohol level tested at 0.24, three times the legal limit, at the time of the accident. She was not hurt in the crash.
Chinn’s two passengers, both in the front seat of the van, were also seriously injured. 
Christopher Bliss, a 56-year-old Watsonville resident, was flown to San Jose Regional Medical Center and died Nov. 3.
The other passenger, a 55-year-old man from Nevada, survived.