A drug and alcohol counselor who allegedly drove two miles through Los Angeles with a dying man on her windshield was convicted Tuesday of second-degree murder, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
Sherri Lynn Wilkins, 52, was also convicted of drunken driving and hit-and-run, DA officials said.
Wilkins testified in her murder trial that the man she's accused of killing, 31-year-old Phillip Moreno, seemed to fly onto her car in the November 2012 crash in Torrance.
"It was a flash, " Wilkins said. "I pretty much felt him landing on my window. To me, it felt like he came from the sky."
Moreno was walking near Torrance Boulevard near Madrid Avenue when he was struck.
Prosecutors say Wilkins drove two miles with Moreno embedded in the windshield of her Mitsubishi Eclipse before another motorist directed her to pull over.
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Wilkins, a former addict, wept and said she'd consumed three airplane-size bottles of vodka, a can of Budweiser beer and Clamato before starting to drive. She said she had been "self-medicating" while waiting for knee-replacement surgery.
"As she unsealed each container of alcohol, she unleashed death on Phillip Moreno," Deputy District Attorney John Harlan said.
Moreno was struck so hard that he flipped onto Wilkins’ car and punched a hole through the windshield. Witnesses stopped Wilkins near Crenshaw Boulevard and 182nd Street, police said. Moreno died at a hospital.
Wilkins was charged in 2010 with DUI and leaving the scene of a crash that caused damage to either property or a vehicle, according to online court records. The charges were dismissed in 2011, records show.
She has two prior convictions for burglary, according to court records.
Wilkins will return to court March 26 for her sentencing, the DA said. She faces 55 years to life in prison.
