Wichita man sentenced in deaths of pregnant woman, unborn baby killed in 2019 crash
A driver who killed his pregnant front-seat passenger in a northwest Wichita crash in 2019 has been sentenced to seven years, seven months in prison, said Kristin Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.
Jerry Lynn Batts, 31, of Wichita pleaded guilty in June to two counts of involuntary manslaughter in the Nov. 11, 2019, deaths of 28-year-old Sierra Frost and her unborn daughter, court records show. Frost was about eight months pregnant when Batts ran a stop sign at west 53rd Street North and Charles Street in a Ford Escape, hit another vehicle, rolled and slammed into a utility pole shortly after 10 p.m.
The crash happened as Batts and Frost fled from the Walmart store at 5475 N. Meridian after allegedly shoplifting nearly $500 worth of cookware, kitchen appliances, baby clothes and ground beef, according to Batts’ arrest affidavit.
A witness told police he saw the Ford Escape go “very fast” and run two stop signs along 55th Street North before the driver flipped off its headlights and ran another stop sign at the intersection of Charles and 53rd Street North. The Ford crashed into a Honda Crosstour there.
Frost suffered fatal injuries, including multiple chest wall fractures, cuts on her head and a bruised lung, according to her autopsy report, which also determined her unborn child was healthy and died only because Frost did. Frost died at the scene.
Batts, who fractured two vertebrae in the crash, had “no formal relationship” to Frost, Johnson said. He may have been driving under the influence of marijuana at the time of the crash, court records say.
Sedgwick County District Judge Jeffrey Syrios imposed the sentence.
