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California woman pleads not guilty in crash that killed former BYU football player

(Ashleigh Cropper | Red Aspen Photography | The Associated Press) This Nov. 18, 2016 photo provided by Red Aspen Photography shows Ryan Folsom with his wife Lauren and sons Cal and Grady posing for a portrait in San Antonio, Texas. Grace Elizabeth Ward, a Northern California woman who drove her car head-on into freeway traffic in an alleged suicide attempt, has been charged with the second-degree murder of Ryan Folsom, the driver she struck, authorities said Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018. Ward, 28, suffered a broken leg in the accident that killed Folsom on Interstate 5 on Jan. 7, 2018. Folsom, 29, was from Medford, Ore., and attended medical school in San Antonio, Texas.

Redding, Calif. • A Northern California woman has pleaded not guilty in a head-on highway crash that killed a man in an oncoming car as she was allegedly trying to attempt suicide.

Grace Elizabeth Ward’s attorney entered the plea to second-degree murder on her behalf as Ward sat in a wheelchair on Friday in Shasta County Superior Court. She remains jailed on $1.5 million bail.

The 28-year-old Ward told the California Highway Patrol she was trying to kill herself when she crossed into oncoming traffic on Interstate 5 on Jan. 7.

Authorities say she came away with only a broken leg, but killed 29-year-old Ryan Folsom.

Folsom, a native of Medford, Oregon who played football at Brigham Young University in Utah, had been headed to Sacramento to interview for a medical residency.