Judge won't dismiss charges in Mass Pike fatal

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) -- A judge has denied a motion to dismiss charges against a New Hampshire woman authorities say had taken cocaine and prescription medication before a crash on the Massachusetts Turnpike that killed her boyfriend.

Julie Hellinger of Nashua, N.H., faces charges including motor vehicle homicide while under the influence of drugs in connection with the December 2009 crash in Westborough. Forty-nine-year-old Geoffrey Kennedy of Nashua, N.H. died.

She is free on $10,000 bail after pleading not guilty.

The Telegram & Gazette reported her lawyer sought dismissal because blood samples analyzed at the state police crime laboratory were destroyed before a toxicology expert hired by the defense had an opportunity to analyze them.

The judge ruled that the defense failed to prove that the destroyed evidence would have helped her case.