California woman sentenced to 7 years in prison for deadly road rage crash
By Ricardo Tovar
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CARMEL VALLEY, California (KSBW) — A Carmel Valley woman has been sentenced in connection with a 2023 road-rage crash that killed a Carmel man, according to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office.
Jenny Lesch was sentenced to seven years in state prison after being convicted of vehicular manslaughter, felony hit-and-run and assault with a deadly weapon. She was found guilty in October 2025.
White van crashed on Highway 1Carmel Valley woman guilty in 2023 road-rage crash that killed Carmel man The crash happened May 31, 2023, after James Pack, 62, of Carmel, was driving home in a white Westfalia VW van.
He merged onto the southbound Highway 1 from Fremont Street while being tailgated by Lesch.
After he merged, Lesch swerved into another lane, nearly hit another car, and braked to block Pack as he tried to merge into the lane she was then in, according to Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine M. Pacioni.
The drivers exchanged obscene gestures, and Pack merged behind Lesch, prosecutors said.
Pacioni said Lesch repeatedly brake-checked Pack near the Aguajito Road exit, causing Pack to lose control of the van. As the van swerved, Lesch made an unsafe lane change and nearly hit a silver Honda, Pacioni said.
The Honda swerved to avoid Lesch and struck Pack’s van on the highway shoulder, causing the van to roll several times and eject Pack, prosecutors said. Pack later died of his injuries.
Investigators said Lesch and the Honda driver fled the scene. California Highway Patrol officers contacted Lesch at her home that night, and she denied being involved, prosecutors said.
“In her statement, she repeatedly lied to police by claiming that she wasn’t able to call 911 because her phone wasn’t working. However, forensic evidence later showed her phone was powered on and receiving a signal at the time of the crash and afterward,” read a media statement from the district attorney’s office.
Prosecutors said forensic evidence and dash-camera video captured portions of the incident and tied Lesch to the crash. Investigators arrested Lesch nearly two months later.
The district attorney’s office also cited a 2021 Newport Beach case in which Lesch was prosecuted after a parking-lot road-rage incident in which she keyed a Tesla. She initially told police she only spat on the car, but later admitted keying it after being shown the video, prosecutors said.
The Honda driver, Nicholas Krenke, was also located and prosecuted for fleeing the scene, authorities said.
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