An Indianapolis woman has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for intentionally running over her boyfriend in 2022.
Gaylyn Morris was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter last August in the death of Andre Smith on June 3, 2022, according to WTHR. She admitted running over him multiple times in the parking lot of a Castleton bar.
Morris was initially charged with murder, but the jury chose the lesser charge, angering Smith’s mother, who testified during the sentencing hearing that her “son did not deserve to be murdered because of her seeing him with another woman because she’s been seeing him with other women.”
“This has been going on,” Laprecia Sanders said. “He was not married to her. He didn’t owe her nothing. He don’t share a kid with her or anything.”
For her part, Morris apologized.
“I just want to apologize to Andre’s family for the hurt and pain that I caused, and to his daughter,” she said. “I understand that this is a tragic situation for everyone that sits in this court room, and I’m so sorry that I caused it. If I could turn back the hands of time, I would and it would be handled much differently, so differently. I’m praying for their strength, healing and recovery. Once again, I’m so sorry to his family. I’m very sorry. I apologize.”
In August, the jury deliberated for less than four hours before returning the voluntary manslaughter verdict.
“When she goes to the bar, it’s to confront her boyfriend. It’s to confront the woman that she thinks is Kenya Brown that’s cheating on her with her boyfriend, whose bills she’s paying, whose rent she’s paying, whose treating her like a dog. And she’s going there to confront him, not to kill anybody. If she was going to kill, why didn’t she bring a gun?” said Morris’ attorney, Max Wiley.
But Marion County Deputy Prosecutor Michelle Sharpe argued that Morris was not Smith’s girlfriend.
“She’s the sidepiece,” Sharpe said. “Let’s stop talking about her like she’s this poor, poor, poor girl that we need to protect.”
At trial, the jury learned that Morris had tracked Smith to the bar with an Apple Air Tag and gone there to confront him, as CrimeOnline reported. She got into a fight with him and the woman he was with before bar management asked them all to leave. Morris left first, and was waiting in her car for Smith to come out.
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[Featured image: Gaylyn Morris/Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department]
