CROWN POINT | Lake Superior Court Judge Thomas P. Stefaniak Jr. said Thursday a Gary woman he placed on probation this week for her role in a fatal traffic accident was not high on marijuana nor was her blood-alcohol level over the legal limit.

Nevertheless, he ordered 25-year-old Kristina Hiltunen Wednesday to serve a 28-month probation period after accepting her guilty plea in June to two felony counts of causing serious bodily injury while driving intoxicated.

The judge said Thursday the counts to which Hiltunen pleaded guilty were" per se counts as it relates to the marijuana in her system. The evidence came out that the marijuana played no role in the accident. The marijuana in her system was from weeks prior."

The judge said her blood-alcohol level was within the legal limit of 0.08.

The deadly collision occurred Jan. 16, 2006, at the intersection of Indianapolis Boulevard and Martha Street in Highland between Hiltunen's Pontiac Grand Am and a BMW driven by Christopher Berlanga, an officer with the Chicago Police Department.

The impact killed 28-year-old William Alvarez, of Griffith, a passenger in Hiltunen's car, and severely injured Thomas Miller, 25, of Griffith, another of Hiltunen's passengers.

Berlanga has pleaded not guilty.