A Santa Maria woman has been ordered to trial in Santa Barbara County Superior Court on a pair of charges stemming from a fatal crash in early January west of Santa Maria.

Noemi L. Moreno, 33, whose last name also has been listed as Morenoleon, was charged in connection with the crash.

A passenger in the vehicle, Gilberto Ramos Jarquin, 25, died due to injuries he suffered in the crash. 

Emergency crews were dispatched at 7:17 p.m. Jan. 7 to West Main Street, east of Black Road, where a Honda Civic had crashed.

Witnesses told California Highway Patrol officers that the speeding Honda’s driver turned onto Main Street from Ray Road without heeding the stop sign, lost control and slammed into a light pole, a highway sign and a telephone pole.

Witnesses also told CHP officers a woman was outside on the driver’s side of the vehicle while a man was in rear passenger seat.

After the crash, family members told CHP investigators that Ramos Jarquin was in a toxic and controlling relationship with Moreno, and he once revealed she had attempted to crash the car before to try to kill them both. 

A preliminary hearing in February ended with Moreno held to answer on felony charges of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury.

Judge Von Deroian ruled probable cause did not exist to hold Moreno to answer to a charge of driving under the influence with a blood-alcohol content of 0.08% causing injury. 

Testing of Moreno’s blood sample was still pending when the preliminary hearing took place.

During the preliminary hearing, Moreno’s attorney tried raised doubts about whether she was driving, and if a third person was in the vehicle due to the odd seating arrangements with the victim in a rear passenger seat.

The case returns to the Lompoc courtroom on April 5 for a readiness-and-settlement conference.

Moreno remained in the custody of the Northern Branch Jail on Tuesday, with bail set at $100,000.