Drunk Driving Case in Adams Morgan Underway

The sentencing for a Maryland woman charged in a fatal crash in Adams Morgan last year has been postponed after the judge presiding over the case recused himself. Chamica Adams, of Mitchellville, Md., will be sentenced for involuntary manslaughter stemming from the Sept. 8 incident. Police say she was going to turn left onto Florida Avenue from 18th Street in Northwest when her car went over the center island and struck pedestrians Julia Bachleitner and Melissa Basque.

Bachleitner, of Austria, was a 26-year-old student at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. She died six days after the Sept. 8 incident.
Basque was injured and later released from the hospital. Adams’ car also crashed into the front of Keren Restaurant on Florida Avenue, according to WTOP.

As part of a plea agreement, charges for DUI and DWI against Adams were dropped.
Adams was scheduled to be sentenced last Friday, but D.C. Superior Court Judge William Jackson recused himself. Jackson’s daughter was in the same Hopkins exchange program as Bachleitner, although the students were in different locations during the program and the judge’s daughter did not know Bachleitner or her family.

The child of one of the judge’s aides also has an alleged connection to Adams.
The case was transferred to Judge Gerald Fisher. Sentencing is now scheduled for Monday.