Driver in accident that killed 5 goes on trial

A jury has been seated in the trial of a woman accused in a crash that killed five people in Thornton. The Denver Post reports opening arguments are scheduled Tuesday in the trial of Monica Chavez.

Prosecutors say that after she had a seizure-like episode in 2006, a doctor told her not to drive until she saw a neurologist. Chavez told investigators she couldn’t afford to see one.

She is charged with criminally negligent homicide in the deaths of 34-year-old Randy Stollsteimer, 31-year-old Crystaldawn Stollsteimer and their three children, ages 7, 9, and 12 after the crash on Feb. 17, 2011. She also faces charges of child abuse because children were in her SUV at the time.

Chavez told investigators that she doesn’t remember the accident.