Plea hearing for hit-and-run suspect Sidney Whitmarsh pushed back to June
Sidney Whitmarsh has been in custody for nearly a year
Edwards resident Sidney Whitmarsh was back in court on Wednesday, appearing via Webex from the Eagle County jail, where she has been in custody for nearly one year.
Whitmarsh is the prime suspect in a deadly hit-and-run collision in which she has been accused of drunk driving, leaving the scene of the accident and working with her family to cover up the crime. A Colorado State Patrol investigation concluded that the body of the victim, Edwards resident Mario Romero, had been moved off the roadway after he was struck by a vehicle while riding his bicycle on Jan. 7, 2024.
Attorney Everett Pritchard, who is representing Whitmarsh, told Judge Rachel Olguin-Fresquez that a psychological mitigation evaluation had been performed on Whitmarsh and was referred to District Attorney Heidi McCollum’s office, and that Whitmarsh was scheduled to meet with McCollum in May.
“I’m not sure exactly what we’re going to discuss, but it will allow Ms. Whitmarsh to meet with the District Attorney and then see where we’re going to go from there,” Pritchard said.
Defense attorneys often request psychological mitigation evaluations to uncover and explain aspects of a defendant’s background or mental health that may reduce their culpability in a crime.
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“A mitigation report includes a client’s developmental, familial, educational, employment, medical, and mental health history, as well as their relevance at the time of the alleged offense,” writes Dr. Tyler Durns with Forensic Psychiatric Associates. “It explains the symptoms experienced by a client and how those symptoms potentially influenced the client’s thought process and proposed actions.”
At a hearing for Whitmarsh in November, Colorado State Patrol Trooper Colin Remillard, who investigated the scene where Romero was found, said he believed Romero’s body was moved after being struck by Whitmarsh’s Subaru.
“Even if the body hung up and was carried, it would not come off the vehicle with enough momentum, in my opinion, to end up 20-plus feet off the roadway,” he said.
Remillard had obtained Whitmarsh’s phone, as well, and said there were text messages from the night of the incident in which Whitmarsh said “I’m too ducked up.” Remillard said he believed it was an autocorrect for another term for being intoxicated.
In referring the case to the district court, Judge Inga Causey, at Whitmarsh’s November hearing, said the evidence surrounding the incident indicates that Whitmarsh was either aware that the body was moved or moved it herself.
“She was aware that an accident had occurred, and she hid the evidence,” Causey said. “She hid it in her car, she hid it in her garage, she talked about it to others, she didn’t go to law enforcement, it all points in the same direction.”
Causey said no one can be certain if Romero died on impact or was alive for a time following the crash.
“I don’t know if his life could have been saved, but nobody cared to do anything about it,” Causey said. “The only thing that was occurring was an attempt to cover up what had been done.”
Whitmarsh was eventually located and arrested in Arkansas, where she was staying with her father, Cean Whitmarsh, in March of 2024. She returned to Colorado and was booked at the Eagle County Detention Center on May 3, 2024.
Cean Whitmarsh, in February, pled guilty to felony accessory to a crime and was sentenced to 120 days of electronic home monitoring and four years of supervised probation.
Sidney Whitmarsh’s next court appearance has been scheduled for June 11. Olguin-Fresquez, on Wednesday, said she expects a plea to be entered at that time.
“On (June 11), if there’s not going to be a plea agreement, we’ll go ahead and get on a trial track,” Olguin-Fresquez said. “Ms. Whitmarsh has been in custody for a little while and we want to make sure we’re moving things forward.”
If all the charges against her make it to trial, Whitmarsh could be facing three felonies and a misdemeanor, including a class-3 felony for failure to remain at the scene of a crash resulting in death; a class-6 felony for tampering with physical evidence; a class-3 felony for vehicular homicide; and a class-2 misdemeanor for failure to notify the police of a traffic accident resulting in death.
