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Woman pleads guilty in drunken crash

Will be sentenced on six charges, including aggravated vehicular homicide

Staff file photo / Ed Runyan Kyashia D. Madison entered a plea Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court in an Aug. 16, 2023, East Side crash that killed a passenger in another car. This photo was taken during an earlier hearing.

YOUNGSTOWN — Kyashia D. Madison of Youngstown pleaded guilty Monday to six charges, including aggravated vehicular homicide, in an Aug. 16, 2023, East Side crash that killed a passenger in another car. Madison will be sentenced at 10:30 a.m. March 13.

Judge Maureen Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court accepted Madison’s guilty pleas to charges of aggravated vehicular homicide, three counts of aggravated vehicular assault and single counts of misdemeanor child endangering and drunk driving. Several other charges were dismissed in exchange for Madison’s guilty pleas.

Madison could get more than 30 years in prison. Prosecutors did not specify a specific amount of prison time they will recommend that Madison receive.

Denasia R. Douglas, 19, of Cohasset Drive in Youngstown, a mother of two children, was killed in the 9:39 p.m. two-vehicle crash.

Douglas was transported to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. A news release from the Mahoning County Coroner’s Office stated all of the other people involved in the crash were treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Nine people were in the two vehicles.

Madison had a suspected minor injury. She was tested and found to have a blood-alcohol level of .255, which is more than three times the legal limit to drive in Ohio of .08, according to a Youngstown police crash report. Her vehicle also was traveling an estimated 56 mph in a 25 mph zone and was deemed to have committed “improper passing,” the report states.

Madison was driving east on Victor Avenue near Commonwealth Avenue and trying to pass an eastbound vehicle in front of her when the other vehicle turned left toward a parking space in front of 1396 Victor, the crash report states.

The crash occurred when Madison’s 2007 GMC Yukon hit the driver’s side of the 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt driven by John Perdue, 18, of Fifth Avenue in Youngstown. Perdue suffered suspected serious injuries. His vehicle was traveling an estimated 9 mph in a 25 mph zone, the crash report states.

The crash caused suspected serious injuries to Alena Roberson, 17, a passenger in Perdue’s car, the report states. A suspected minor injury was suffered by another passenger in his car, Aniya L. Roberson, 18, and killed Denasia Douglas.

Four passengers in Madison’s vehicle suffered suspected minor injuries, including Kymari Fant, 9; Kymauni Madison, 5; Landyn C. Cain, 2; and Londyn Cain, 1.

The crash location was near the Rockford Village Apartments.

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