A woman was given a 90-day term Monday after being convicted of a misdemeanor for driving more than 65 mph on a residential street in Minneapolis and causing a crash that killed one of her passengers and left her a paraplegic.
Markesha W. Jones, 20, of Brooklyn Center was sentenced by Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill in connection with the crash on March 11, 2021, near the intersection of N. 37th and Fremont avenues.
Daviegh J.K. Lee, 15, of Minneapolis, died five days later at North Memorial Health. His brother, Day'shawn Lee, was also in the car and survived. He has since turned 16 years old.
Cahill's sentence allows Jones to serve her time on electronic home monitoring. The judge said she can have furloughs for medical and therapy appointments. Cahill also assessed her $128 in fines and fees.
In a bench verdict in early March, Cahill dismissed felony counts against Jones of criminal vehicular homicide and criminal vehicular operation. A felony conviction would have left Jones open to a prison sentence.
Cahill wrote in his verdict filing that the prosecution failed to meet the standard that Jones was driving in a grossly negligent manner and chose instead to convict her of careless driving.
Jones, who was 18 at the time, "operated a motor vehicle upon a public street carelessly and in a negligent manner, endangering herself and her passengers," Cahill concluded in his ruling filed March 4. "The driving behavior, while negligent, was not grossly negligent." Cahill did not elaborate on how the circumstances of the crash failed to rise to gross negligence.
The County Attorney's Office took exception to the acquittals. "Driving full throttle, three times the speed limit, and passing another moving vehicle while going the wrong way on a two-lane residential road is extraordinarily dangerous driving conduct that has no place on our roads," said office spokesman Nicholas Kimball.
