Mom to plead guilty to DUII night daughter tumbled from car

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The mother of a 27-year-old woman who investigators believe died after she tumbled out of her mother's moving car southwest of Portland is expected to plead guilty to driving under the influence of intoxicants.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports an attorney for Jennifer Weathers, the mother of Meighan Cordie, said Weathers will plead guilty Feb. 5 in Yamhill County Circuit Court.

Defense attorney Walter Todd says a charge that Weathers recklessly endangered her 3-year-old granddaughter is expected to be dismissed. Yamhill County District Attorney Brad Berry declined to say what sentence is called for in Weathers' plea agreement.

Berry said his office reached the agreement after meeting with Cordie's family.

"They had significant input in the end result," Berry said of the plea deal.

Weathers, 50, initially was investigated for homicide charges when Cordie went missing after attending a rural Yamhill County wedding Aug. 18.

Her mother called a non-emergency dispatcher Aug. 19 to report that she was "kind of worried" about Cordie. In a recording of the call, Weathers isn't forthcoming with all that she knew, explaining that after the wedding her daughter "was upset and got out of the car, and I haven't heard anything since."

Cordie's body was found down an embankment on Aug. 23 by joggers in Dayton.

An autopsy showed that she suffered two broken or severed vertebrae and died instantly upon hitting the roadway.

Weathers didn't tell the dispatcher that she and her daughter had gotten into an argument and physical fight -- with Cordie pulling out a clump of Weathers' hair, according to a memo written by the prosecution. Prosecutors believe that Cordie then tumbled barefoot out of the car.

The prosecutor's office ruled Cordie's death "accidental."