Wichita man sentenced in crash that killed young mom celebrating her birthday
A Sedgwick County judge last week ordered a Wichita man to serve 10 years, 8 months in prison in connection with a Dec. 14, 2024, crash that killed a young mother who was out celebrating her birthday.
Charles D. Smith Jr., 31, pleaded guilty on Sept. 11 to an amended count of involuntary manslaughter in the death of 22-year-old Lanashia Clay of Wichita, who was a passenger in the vehicle he was driving when it crashed into multiple trees in the 1700 block of South Mosley around 2:40 a.m. He also pleaded guilty to aggravated battery for injuring another female passenger who suffered a broken leg and a shattered ankle.
Smith blamed the crash on a malfunctioning vehicle that had recently spent time in a mechanic’s shop. But a probable cause affidavit says he and the women had spent the evening at a restaurant and bar having dinner and drinking — and Smith had also repeatedly used cannabis — before they got into Smith’s Lincoln Continental to head home. Police noted a “strong odor” of alcohol coming from him in the aftermath of the collision, the affidavit says.
He told police even after drinking “an unknown number of shots” and using marijuana, he “felt he was safe to drive,” according to the affidavit.
He told police his car “began to slide, and he was unable to control the vehicle” when he turned onto a street and that his efforts to brake and steer away from the trees were fruitless. He also claimed the car “would accelerate on its own” after a mechanic he met on social media worked on it, the affidavit says.
Clay, the mother of a toddler, was out celebrating her 22nd birthday when she was killed, The Eagle previously reported.
Smith’s lawyer tried to persuade a Sedgwick County district judge to give him a more lenient prison sentence of five years, arguing in a written motion that Clay and the other woman bore some responsibility because they had been “consuming alcohol and marijuana” with Smith and “knew of his level of consumption and yet agreed to let him drive.”
But the judge denied the request.
