MIAMI — It was going to be the most important night of Helen Marie Witty's young life.

The 16-year-old straight-A sophomore, who dreamed of one day performing on Broadway, was putting the finishing touches on a school play she was directing.

But Witty was struck by a car the night before the play's opening. The driver was another teenage girl who police say had spent the afternoon drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana.

Carla Wagner, 17, was speeding along a leafy suburban road, glancing down to dial her cellular phone when she lost control of the car, authorities said. Her new Audi slid onto a bike path, hitting Witty before crashing into a tree.

Witty died instantly that June 1, 2000, evening. A memorial service for the slain teen begins on April 21 to coincide with what would have been her 17th birthday.

Wagner faces an uncertain future. She is being tried as an adult and faces a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 25 if convicted on charges of vehicular homicide, driving under the influence and causing serious bodily injury.

Jury selection in her trial begins April 9. She has pleaded not guilty.

Richard Sharpstein, Wagner's attorney, contends the sentencing guidelines are too strict, and Wagner, now 18, should not be sent to prison for the "non-intentional" tragedy.

"It was lapse of judgment and something that is not untypical of teenage life in every generation," Sharpstein said.

Florida prosecutors said the case is a tragedy for both families.

"As parents, we should realize that our own children could just as easily be Carla Wagner as they can be Helen Marie Witty," Assistant State Attorney Michael Gilfard said. "Carla Wagner is not being made an example, she is being treated like anyone else who drives impaired and kills another human being."

Friends who were with Wagner that fatal day testified in depositions about an afternoon binge of hard alcohol and marijuana in the master bedroom of a friend's house.

When Wagner's car went out of control, she was traveling 60 mph in a 30 mph speed zone and looking down to dial her parents' number on the cell phone, her friends said. Her blood-alcohol level was 0.09 percent, just over the 0.08 percent legal limit, police said.

Both girls were popular, acted in school plays and made good grades. Witty was described as a perfect teen. Wagner came from a well-to-do family and had never been in trouble with the law before.

"I don't understand how it happened, that these two were there at the same second, and Helen's gone," said Donna Underwood, a longtime Witty family friend.

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Wagner, pinned behind the steering wheel with facial cuts and fractures, was in shock. Three other teenage girls in the car were taken to the hospital and recovered.

At the hospital that night, passenger Nicole Goudie said Wagner cried and told her "I'm the one that deserves this and not her."

The following night, the students at Palmetto High decided to go on with the play "Bathers" in Witty's honor. Her parents, John and Helen Witty, were in the audience.

The Wittys have declined interview requests.

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