By Sophia Voravong

A Crawfordsville teenager likely will be charged as an adult for driving with traces of marijuana in his system and causing a crash in September that killed three people.

Tyler R. Sutton, 17, appeared Friday morning before Tippecanoe County juvenile court Judge Loretta Rush for an initial hearing on 11 felonies in connection to the two-vehicle wreck near Stockwell.

Rush waived the case to adult court. Sutton turns 18 in May.

Juvenile Deputy Prosecutor Charles Hagen, who presented letters from victims' families during the hearing, said he expects formal charges to be filed next week.

Hagen said they will be the same offenses that Sutton was charged with in January in juvenile court, which include: six counts of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, three counts of reckless homicide and one count of feticide, which is defined as the intentional termination of a pregnancy.

One of his passengers, Megan M. Hinds, 15, was 24 weeks pregnant at the time of the crash.

Sutton is accused of running a stop sign on County Road 700 East and Indiana 28 East on Sept. 8, 2007, striking a vehicle driven by Marilyn E. Gardner, 78, of Indianapolis.

She later died at a Lafayette hospital.

Sutton's passengers and North Montgomery High School classmates, Hinds and Jennah S. Smith, died at the scene.

Investigators with the Tippecanoe County Fatal Alcohol Crash Team determined that Sutton, who was driving south on County Road 700 East, had been traveling 66 mph at the time of impact and that he ran a stop sign. The posted speed limit is 55 mph.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed with the charges in juvenile court, a toxicology test returned in November showed that marijuana metabolites were present in Sutton's blood. Another toxicology test returned this month showed the presence of marijuana metabolites in Sutton's urine.

Indiana law requires only that narcotic metabolites be present to establish impaired driving.

Sutton was being held Friday on a $10,000 surety bond in the Tippecanoe County Jail.