Carlisle Township woman pleads guilty to leaving the scene of fatal Lorain crash

A Carlisle Township woman has pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of a fatal traffic crash in February in Lorain in which she hit and killed a pedestrian with her car. Lynda Wright, 53, of Grafton Road, pleaded guilty Wednesday to failure to stop after a collision and tampering with evidence, both felonies, and vehicular homicide, a misdemeanor, in Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Giovanna Bremke's court. A trial had been scheduled to start Monday, Oct. 27. Sentencing is Dec. 12, her defense attorney said Friday. There is no agreement on what her sentence will be, according to the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office. The Lorain Police Department said Wright was the driver of a white Subaru Legacy that struck and killed Luis Wheeler, 50, of Grafton, as he crossed the road on the 1400 block of Cooper Foster Park Road early on the morning of Feb. 8. The Lorain County Coroner's Office said Wheeler died from a combination of blunt force trauma to the head, body and extremities. Wright left the scene westbound in the car, Lorain police said. Lorain and Amherst police tracked her to the Days Inn on North Leavitt Road in Amherst, where she was arrested. Chief Assistant Prosecutor Chris Pierre said Wright told investigators several different stories — that she thought she hit a mailbox but kept driving because she wanted to get to work and that her boyfriend had been driving the car, among them — and got her whole windshield replaced after the crash. Her car had damage consistent with the fatal wreck, but Pierre said Wright told investigators the damage was from a crash two years earlier. The windshield replacement resulted in the evidence tampering charge. Defense attorney R.J. Budway said Wright thought she hit a deer. "She feels terrible this happened" and still gets emotional about it when talking with him, Budway said. "It's very emotional. Nobody want to kill anybody." Wright knows she could go to prison and is "very remorseful," her attorney said. "It's very tragic. She's been a very motivated client since the time this happened and remorseful since the time this happened. She's always expressed her sadness," Budway said. There was no evidence Wright was reckless, negligent or intoxicated when she hit Wheeler, Pierre said. She didn't do it on purpose and wasn't committing a felony when she hit him, he said. That limited prosecutors in how they could charge Wright, Pierre said. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.