VISTA, Calif. -- A young man who crashed his Ford Mustang on a two-lane road north of Vista, killing his teenage passenger, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a charge of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

Reyes Miranda, 21, of Oceanside, faces a maximum of four years in state prison when he is sentenced April 15, but Vista Judge Daniel Goldstein indicated he would give the defendant no more than 16 months behind bars, said Deputy District Attorney Roy Lai.

In return for the defendant's plea, charges of driving under the influence were dismissed, the prosecutor said.

CHP officials said Miranda was driving drunk around 2 a.m. last Nov. 8 when the 1990 Mustang veered off East Vista Way near Mason Road, smashed through a bus shelter and rolled over.

Gerardo Chacon, a 17-year-old junior at Vista High School, was partly ejected from the car and died at the scene -- just one block from his Vista home.

Miranda's blood-alcohol content was measured at .11 percent about an hour after the crash, Lai said. The legal limit for drivers in California is .08 percent.