Woman convicted in road rage fatality on Highway 1 on Central California coast

By Tim Fang

A Monterey County woman has been convicted of vehicular manslaughter and other charges in connection with a deadly road rage incident and hit-and-run on Highway 1, prosecutors said.

District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni’s office announced Monday that a jury found 47-year-old Jenny Rebecca Lesch of Carmel Valley guilty of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, felony hit-and-run with injury or death and assault with a deadly weapon. Lesch was convicted over an incident that killed James Pack on May 31, 2023 as he was attempting to drive to his home in Carmel.

According to prosecutors, the incident began when Pack merged his VW van onto southbound Highway 1 at Fremont Street in Monterey when he was tailgated by a dark gray SUV driven by Lesch.

After merging, Lesch swerved into another lane, nearly hitting another vehicle, prosecutors said. Shen then hit her brakes to block the van as Pack tried to merge into the lane she was in before Pack merged behind Lesch.

As both vehicles approached Aguajito Road, prosecutors said Lesch repeatedly brake-checked Pack, which eventually led to the van losing control.

When the van served out of control, prosecutors said Lesch made an unsafe turn into another lane, nearly hitting a silver Honda. The Honda struck Pack’s van, which caused the van to roll over multiple times.

Pack was ejected from the vehicle and died of his wounds later that day. He was survived by his wife of 25 years, his adult children and his brother, prosecutors said.

Both Lesch and the driver of the Honda fled the scene.

California Highway Patrol officers contacted Lesch at her home that night. Prosecutors said Lesch denied involvement in the incident, but forensic evidence on her phone, from the scene and dash camera footage contradicted what Lesch told police.

The driver of the Honda, later identified as Nicholas Krenke, was arrested and prosecuted for fleeing the scene of a deadly collision.

According to the DA’s office, Lesch was prosecuted in a 2021 road rage incident in Newport Beach in which she admitted to vandalizing a Tesla after claiming the driver failed to yield while she was walking to her car. Prosecutors said she yelled at the Tesla driver and keyed the vehicle when after the driver went into a store.

Lesch remains in custody ahead of a sentencing hearing on Nov. 18. She faces a sentence of up to nine years in state prison.