Olathe ? Jurors have acquitted a 21-year-old woman accused of driving drunk in the fatal wreck that killed her friend.

Defense attorneys said in closing arguments Friday that Hanna Sandbeck shouldn’t be convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Laura Geraghty because Geraghty was the one behind the wheel.

The friends were both 19 on July 16, 2004, when the sport utility vehicle in which they were riding slammed into a concrete barrier on Interstate 435 in Lenexa and rolled onto its passenger side.

Geraghty’s boyfriend testified during the trial that he put Geraghty in the driver’s seat and shut the door less than 15 minutes before the crash. He said Sandbeck was asleep in the passenger’s seat.

Prosecutors contend that the two women switched places. The defense argued Geraghty remained in the driver’s seat.

Sandbeck, who lives in Lenexa, was not seriously injured in the crash.

She was arrested after her blood-alcohol content measured 0.13 percent, which was well above the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

During the trial, witnesses for the defense and prosecution offered different accounts concerning how the women sustained their injuries when they were tossed around during the crash. Neither wore a seatbelt.

In closing arguments, Assistant Dist. Atty. Kristen Shelley pointed out that Sandbeck’s DNA was found on the driver’s-side air bag.

But defense attorney John Benge maintained that the blood got on the air bag after the accident.

After Friday’s verdict, Sandbeck’s mother, Lynn Sandbeck, said she and her family knew from the beginning that Hanna was not driving.

“It’s been very frustrating,” she said.

Christy Geraghty, however, said she didn’t buy the defense witnesses who said her daughter was the likely driver.

“But,” she said, “they must have put reasonable doubt in (the jurors’) minds.”