COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A Montgomery County jury has found a Jefferson City woman guilty of first-degree involuntary manslaughter in a 2012 crash that killed a 35-year-old Parkville man.
The Columbia Missourian (columbiamissourian.com ) reports that 25-year-old Kelli Carin Smith was convicted Friday after two days of deliberation. The jury’s first round of deliberations lasted more than 10 hours and didn’t conclude until 2 a.m. Friday.
Truck driver Thomas Sullivan died in an early-morning crash on I-70 after colliding with Smith, who was traveling the wrong way on the interstate.
Smith’s lawyers argued at trial that the former Columbia resident was drugged and sexually assaulted before the crash after visiting several bars earlier that night.
Prosecutors rejected that claim.