This month's preliminary hearing for the Eldorado man charged with causing the deaths of four local teenagers last summer while driving drunk will not happen, a prosecutor said Thursday.

Instead, 28-year-old Scott Owens will likely stand trial in October on four counts of vehicular homicide and one count of causing great bodily injury by vehicle, said Deputy District Attorney Doug Couleur. The last count relates to the driver of the car, Avree Koffman, 16, who was seriously injured in the June 28 on Old Las Vegas Highway.

A motion waiving the preliminary hearing likely will be filed Tuesday, when the case is scheduled for a hearing.

Attempts to reach Owens' lawyer, Dan Cron, on Thursday were not successful.

The preliminary hearing was scheduled last month after questions arose surrounding the facts of the case. State District Judge Michael Vigil was scheduled to determine during the hearing, scheduled for June 14-16, if probable cause existed to charge Owens with the counts he faces.

Santa Fe County sheriff's investigators believe Owens, whose blood-alcohol content was double the legal driving limit, was driving in the wrong lane when he struck the 1992 Subaru driven by Koffman. They have said Owens tried to turn back into his lane too late after seeing the Subaru. Meanwhile, Koffman turned to her left — into Owens lane — and Owens' Jeep Cherokee slammed directly into the passenger side of the Subaru.

Cron isn't sure the crash happened that way. His doubts are rooted in physical evidence left at the scene which he has said might not support the investigators' theory. Essentially, that evidence indicates Owens might not have been driving on the wrong side of the road, and he might not have had enough time to react when the Subaru came into his lane.

Killed in the crash were Kate Klein, Julian Martinez and Alyssa Trouw, all 16, and 15-year-old Rose Simmons.

Owens remains incarcerated at the Santa Fe County jail.

Contact Jason Auslander at 986-3076 or jauslander@sfnewmexican.com.