SUSANNA GOIHMAN is expected to plead guilty today to the drunken hit-and-run accident that killed 15-year-old Kayla Peter.

Prosecutor Mark Gilson confirmed yesterday that a plea is likely to come this afternoon during Goihman's pre-trial conference before Common Pleas Judge Benjamin Lerner. Defense attorney Brian McMonagle declined to comment for this story.

A source familiar with the case said the two sides have been "actively" negotiating a plea agreement for months. A guilty plea has seemed the probable outcome since Goihman waived her preliminary hearing in November. Foregoing a preliminary hearing sometimes signals a defendant's willingness to accept responsibility for the crime.

A conviction for a fatal vehicular homicide DUI carries a three-year mandatory prison term.

The case of the portly, drunken, home-wrecking Queen Village restaurateur mowing down the cute East Falls high-school student on June 19, 2005 - then fleeing the scene - has been loaded with drama, intrigue and bitterness.

It sparked community outrage and pressure, and inspired countless televised clips of a desperate Goihman, careening across the street like a pingpong ball, trying to avoid reporters covering her criminal case.

The case was propelled beyond other fatal DUIs largely because Kayla's friends and neighbors organized loud, disruptive, daily demonstrations outside Goihman's Queen Lane home to protest the apparent delay in her arrest.

While some viewed their constant presence as street-corner vigilantism, others saw them as grass-roots heroes.

Donna Persico, a mother who organized the demonstrations, said yesterday that she was shocked and relieved by the news that Goihman might plead guilty.

"Any ending where Susanna Goihman is stopped is worth it," she said .

Kayla's mom, Melissa Mann, declined to comment on the possible plea.

Last night, Persico drove to a corner facing Goihman's house, Queen Lane and Henry Avenue, with her pal Pat Mayo.

After 45 minutes, Goihman and two adults drove away in a car.

The district attorney's office handed the hit-and-run case over to a grand jury when Goihman's arrest did not appear imminent after June 2005 - even though the mystery Lexus had been linked to her.

During that grand-jury investigation, the intrigue grew when the Daily News uncovered sordid details of the hours Goihman spent just before Kayla was struck on Ridge Avenue. In September, sources revealed that Goihman had been returning home from a 10-minute sex romp with a married Manayunk restaurateur when she allegedly struck Kayla.

Before the hookup, the grand-jury report said, Goihman - a Venezuelan native who owned Azafran restaurant in Queen Village - spent most of the night drinking in Manayunk.

She downed three vodka martinis, a chilled vodka and three glasses of wine between 8 p.m. and 10:45 p.m. at three Manayunk bars: Kildare's Pub, Thomas' and Il Tartufo, the report said.

She then met up with Il Tartufo owner Alberto Delbello.

It was Father's Day, but Goihman joined Delbello, his wife and young children for dinner at Delbello's restaurant.

After dinner - and after his wife and kids left - Delbello, whose real name is Ilyas Shah, told his staff he was driving Goihman home.

He told the grand jury he thought he was going to get lucky.

He did. The two began stripping in the foyer of her home and had a brief encounter in her bed, according to the grand-jury report.

"It shows a certain level of intoxication, impairment and lack of judgment that continued" throughout the night of June 19, prosecutor Gilson said after Goihman waived her preliminary hearing.

"They were barely inside [Goihman's East Falls home] before they were taking each other's clothes off," he said.

After the tryst, Goihman drove Delbello back to his restaurant, then headed home.

Just then, Kayla Peter was walking toward her Ridge Avenue home from the SEPTA bus stop. Goihman's Lexus, traveling between 45-50 mph in the 35-mph zone, struck her, the report said. Goihman's brakes screeched, her car veered, she stopped, reversed and finally drove off, witnesses told the grand jury.

Kayla's body rolled onto the hood of the car, hit the driver's-side mirror, then was thrown under a parked car just four houses from her own home.

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