Originally published Saturday, December 29, 2007 at 12:00 AM

Baseball Notebook | Leyritz is charged with DUI in fatal car wreck

Former major-leaguer Jim Leyritz was charged Friday with DUI manslaughter and might face additional charges from the crash that left a mother...

By McClatchy Newspapers and Newsday

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Jim Leyritz posted bond and was released.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Former major-leaguer Jim Leyritz was charged Friday with DUI manslaughter and might face additional charges from the crash that left a mother of two dead, police said.

The manslaughter charge carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, and Leyritz also could face a first-degree misdemeanor charge of damaging property while driving under the influence. The additional charge is pending the completion of the investigation, including toxicology results, officials said.

Fredia Veitch, 30, who was driving home to Plantation, Fla., from her job as a waitress, died in the crash. She was not wearing a seat belt, police said.

Leyritz, who lives in Davie, Fla., turned 44 Thursday. He played for six major-league teams and batted .264 in an 11-season career.

About 3:30 a.m. Friday, police said, Leyritz was red-eyed, clumsily attempted to complete sobriety tests and repeatedly refused Breathalyzer and blood tests. He was treated at a hospital for a neck sprain and booked into the Broward County Jail. Leyritz was released after posting an $11,000 bond.

Notes

• Houston signed right-hander Oscar Villarreal, 26, to a two-year, $2.85 million contract. He was traded to the Astros by Atlanta for outfielder Josh Anderson, 25, last month.

• The New York Yankees prohibited second baseman Robinson Cano, 25, from continuing to play winter ball in the Dominican Republic, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman confirmed.

Cano had helped Las Estrellas Orientales clinch a playoff berth for the first time in three years. Cano batted .389 in nine regular-season games and was hitless in his first playoff game Wednesday.

"We had agreed to give him permission to play six games," Cashman said. "We wanted to make sure that the abdominal injury he had in September was resolved. I noticed that he was still playing after 10 games, and that's not what we had agreed to."

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