Inset: Joshua Frye (Audrain County Jail). Background: The stretch of road where Frye caused a fatal crash in Mexico, Mo. (Google Maps).
A Missouri man received a relatively light — though conditional — sentence for the drunk-driving death of two people over the summer.
On Monday, Joshua Frye, 24, pleaded guilty to one count each of driving while intoxicated resulting in the death of two or more people, reckless driving, and DWI causing serious injury, according to the Audrain County Prosecuting Attorney”s Office.
The underlying incident occurred on July 12, while the defendant was driving drunk — and on the wrong side of the road — on South Clark Street in Mexico, a small town located roughly 40 miles northwest of Columbia, according to court documents obtained by Law&Crime.
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Prosecutors classified the DWI-designated charges as forms of “criminal negligence,” according to a heavily redacted criminal information issued in mid-October. The charging document also describes the resulting accident as “careless and imprudent.”
The information, which is a set of charges drawn up without a grand jury’s input, says Frye was driving “at a speed too fast for conditions, leaving the driving lane and striking an oncoming vehicle, and thereby endangered the life and limb of any person” before the accident.
In the ensuing crash, the defendant caused a head-on collision by veering into the wrong lane and hitting another car.
While the charging document describes the victims as “confidential,” previous reporting by Columbia-based ABC affiliate KMIZ identified the victims as Kristian Pritchett, 22, and Austin Terry, 27.
Pritchett and Terry were Frye’s passengers in the southbound Kia Soul, which collided with a northbound Chrysler of unknown model. A third person, Elliot Kitson, 29, was injured but survived, according to a press release issued by the Mexico Department of Public Safety.
Details of the crash were revealed in a probable cause statement obtained by Carrollton-based radio station KMZU.
The driver of the Chrysler said the Soul lost control on a slight curve and ran straight into his own car just before 6:30 a.m. that day, police said. In the immediate aftermath of the crash, Frye smelled strongly of alcohol and admitted to drinking before driving. Law enforcement also recovered multiple alcoholic beverages from inside the Soul.
On Monday, Audrain County Prosecutor Jacob Shellabarger announced the defendant was sentenced to 15 years on the vehicular homicide charge, seven years on the lesser DWI charge, and one year on the reckless driving charge. The prosecutor indicated those sentences would be served concurrently – or, at the same time. But those sentences will, in fact, be suspended – at least for now.
First, Frye will be allowed to complete a 120-day treatment program in the Department of Corrections; he has been in custody since recuperating from his own severe injuries after the crash. Then, pending the results of that treatment program, the defendant might find himself on five years of probation in lieu of prison.
Shellabarger, in a press release, said the victims’ families opposed the plea deal.
“The victims’ families spoke at sentencing, indicating they wanted Frye to face the maximum possible punishment, that they would never see their family members again, and that it was unjust that Frye would get to walk free again,” the prosecutor said. “Those family members opposed the plea agreement, wanting Joshua Frye to serve prison time without the treatment program or possibility of probation.”
The prosecutor noted the defendant lacked a criminal history prior to the incident when defending the conditional plea deal.
“Joshua Frye’s decision to drive recklessly, while intoxicated on both drugs and alcohol, caused the death of two people, taking their lives, and changed the life of another through serious physical injury,” Shellabarger said. “Austin Terry and Kristian Pritchett should not have died,” the prosecutor went on. “Joshua Frye is solely responsible for their deaths, and will face the maximum possible punishment if he is not successful in the Department of Corrections drug and alcohol treatment program and complete the strict, restrictive and appropriate terms of probation, if he is to be released…Accountability comes in many forms, and this sentence sends a strong message that driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and driving recklessly, have devastating consequences.”
