Trial is underway in the Orange County Superior Court in a  fatal DUI case which killed a 26-year-old ice hockey player and former figure skater from Fullerton.    

Brittany Schuetz, who has a prior drunken-driving conviction and whose  blood alcohol level at the time of this crash is alleged to have been .24 percent, stands accused of second-degree murder in the 2009 death of April Whang.  According to prosecutors, on the night of the incident, Schuetz ignored her friends’ pleas to not drive after consuming several drinks at a party in Sherman Oaks and instead got behind the wheel of her car to drive from Whittier to her Santa Ana home.

Prosecutors claim Schuetz ran through a red light at a La Habra intersection, slamming into Whang’s vehicle as it proceeded through a green light.  The impact threw Whang into the cargo area of her car.  Whang died at the scene of multiple traumatic injuries.  Schuetz, meanwhile, was found by police sitting in the driver’s seat of her car.  She allegedly had a strong odor of alcohol on her breath,  bloodshot and watery eyes and was unable to answer simple questions.       

If convicted, Schuetz faces 15 years to life in prison.