SANDPOINT — A Bonner County man accused of accidentally killing a pedestrian on McGhee Road last year pleaded not guilty Monday to a charge of vehicular manslaughter.

Peter Franklin Goullette’s plea clears the way for a three-day jury trial on the felony charge in 1st District Court. Those proceedings are scheduled to start on Dec. 17.

The June 2016 collision killed Katherine K. Stelzer and seriously wounded Zualita Updike, resulting in an additional charge of reckless driving, a misdemeanor. Stelzer, 61, of Mead, Wash., and Updike, 50, of Clark Fork, were on a lunchtime walk while on their breaks from jobs at Litehouse Foods.

Idaho State Police said Goullette was driving southbound when he crashed into the women, who were also walking south on the road. Updike testified during a preliminary hearing last month that they had initially been facing traffic as they walked, but switched to the other side of the road when they encountered a U.S. Postal Service vehicle.

Updike said the collision spun her as though she was in the tornado in the “Wizard of Oz.”

Stelzer was mortally wounded in the crash and died at the scene.

Against defense objections, two witnesses testified that they had seen the Chevrolet Silverado speeding on the road prior to the crash. One of the witnesses told the court during the preliminary hearing that the Chevy had veered into her lane of travel and that Goullette appeared to be looking down and toward the left rather than keeping his eyes on the road.

A state police trooper testified that a post-crash reconstruction analysis concluded that the pre-collision speed of the pickup was 43 mph and the area-of-impact collision speed was estimated at 35 mph, which is 10 miles faster than the posted speed limit.

Goullette, 24, did not take the stand and Judge Justin Julian ruled there was sufficient evidence to justify trying him on the felony offense.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.