SAN DIEGO -- A man who was allegedly drunk when his SUV slammed into a parked car on a freeway shoulder on New Year's Day, killing a pregnant woman, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to gross vehicular manslaughter and DUI charges.

Joseph Anthony Venegas, 40, faces 16 years and eight months in prison if convicted in the death of 21-year-old Elaina Luquis-Ortiz, who was six months pregnant with a son, who she had already named Romeo Francisco.

Venegas is not charged in the death of the unborn child because the law under manslaughter does not provide for the death of a fetus, prosecutor Corinne Miesfeld said outside court.

In addition to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, Venegas is charged with two counts of DUI causing injury and DUI with a blood-alcohol content of .08 percent or higher.

Venegas -- whose arraignment was delayed for a week because of concerns he could spread an undisclosed infectious disease -- was ordered held on $300,000 bail.

"It angers me that he can plead not guilty," the victim's sister, Julie Pineda, said outside court.

"It angers me that they're not going to charge him for my nephew," she said. "It's murder. He killed my sister. He killed the baby that was inside of her."

Miesfeld told Judge David Szumowski that Venegas had a blood-alcohol level of .25 percent -- more than three times the legal limit -- when he slammed his black Chevrolet Tahoe into the back of a parked car whose occupants were waiting for roadside assistance, killing Luquis-Ortiz and seriously injuring two friends.

The victims' injuries included a lacerated spleen and a lacerated liver, the prosecutor said.

The victim's husband, Francisco, is a 22-year-old Marine stationed at Miramar. The Lemon Grove couple were at a friend's home when they got a phone call about 1:30 a.m. from another friend, saying the Mitsubishi Spyder she was driving had a flat tire on Interstate 805, south of Home Avenue.

Luquis-Ortiz was in the process of selling the Mitsubishi coupe to the friend, but since the insurance policy was still in her name, she tagged along to see if she could help.

The victim, her friend and the friend's cousin were waiting in her sedan behind the disabled car when they were hit around 3 a.m.

Family members, worried that the victim hadn't come home, went to the crash scene.

Francisco Luquis-Ortiz said he and his wife met via MySpace through a mutual friend in the summer of 2008 and married three months later. She quit her job at a JCPenney jewelry counter in November to prepare for their son's birth.

Defense attorney Bruce Kotler said Venegas had worked as a cook at a National City retirement home for the last five years.

A readiness conference was scheduled for Feb. 22 and a preliminary hearing for March. 10.