Jury finds 30-year-old woman guilty of 2021 vehicular homicide in Spokane

A Spokane County jury convicted a 30-year-old woman Thursday of killing her passenger in an impaired driving crash in 2021.

Selina Juarez’s first vehicular homicide trial for the case ended last summer in a hung jury.

Juarez was driving early in the morning on June 22, 2021, when she crashed in the 2300 block of East Trent Avenue , killing her 39-year-old passenger, Brandon McDonald.

He was a local rapper and comedian, according to his family.

Evidence showed the car hit a fire hydrant, ripping it from the ground, then continued on to hit a rail car parked on the railroad tracks, according to court documents. The car then rolled.

A toxicology report showed Juarez’s blood alcohol content was 0.10, above the 0.08 legal limit in Washington. Lab results also showed marijuana and cocaine in Juarez’s system, according to a Spokane police news release Thursday.

Investigators say Juarez was going 59 mph in a 35 mph zone.

A tow truck driver witnessed the crash and stopped to check on the occupants of the car, documents say.

Juarez was drenched in blood but talking, while McDonald was not breathing and had a faint pulse, the tow truck driver told police. McDonald died at the scene.

Juarez told police she had a spare tire on the front end of her car and when she pressed the brakes, she lost control, according to court documents.

She was “adamant” she didn’t roll the car, but that description didn’t match the damage to the vehicle, documents say.

Juarez was not taken into custody after the jury’s ruling. The court ruled Juarez is unlikely to flee and does not pose a danger to the community, court documents say.

She is scheduled to be sentenced March 8 in front of Spokane County Superior Court Judge Rachelle Anderson.