Jury sentences woman to 18 years in prison for crash that killed officer
AUSTIN (KXAN) — A jury sentenced a woman to 18 years in prison for a 2022 crash that killed an officer in north Austin on Thursday.
Lindsay Smith pleaded guilty in court earlier this week and “took responsibility” for the crash. Jurors began deliberating to determine her sentence earlier on Thursday.
The range for a sentence was five to 99 years. If the jury had decided on 10 years or less, jurors could have opted for Smith to serve those years on probation instead of prison.
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The crash killed 35-year-old Poteet police officer Jeffery Richardson. He was off duty and working lane closures in north Austin on June 29, 2022, when the crash happened, according to an affidavit. Poteet is south of San Antonio.
The crash happened on the northbound service road of MoPac Expressway near The Domain around 2 a.m. Police said a car drove through a barricade and hit Richardson. In body camera video played in court Wednesday, Smith underwent a field sobriety test, telling an APD officer she had two drinks at a restaurant and four martinis at two different bars. The officer asked her if she had any shots. In the video, Smith responds that she did but that she did not recall how many. The officer who testified as issuing the field sobriety test said she was “disoriented” and “slurring.”
The prosecution rested on Wednesday, and defense attorneys called one witness before court ended for the day. The defense’s first witness was Katie Harris, the court probation officer assigned to the case. Defense attorneys asked Harris about probation being beneficial for certain individuals.
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According to legal experts not related to the case, the Texas penal code states the sentence range for the offense involved in Smith’s case is 5 years to life. If the jury chooses a sentence of 10 years or less, jurors can also decide to probate some of those years – meaning Smith has the potential of serving her entire sentence on probation rather than in jail.
The District Attorney’s Office recused itself from this case early on due to a conflict of interest, according to court records. Prosecutors with the County Attorney’s Office are instead working the case on behalf of the state.
‘It seemed like I was trapped in a movie, and this wasn’t my life,’ Richardson’s family testifies
Richardson’s brother Joe, father Allan and wife Silvia took the stand Wednesday to share their favorite memories of Jeffrey, as well as their experiences the day of Jeffrey’s death.
Joe, a firefighter, went first. He spoke about growing up with Jeffrey and their three other siblings. Joe was working a firefighting shift when he heard about Jeffrey’s crash and said he self-assigned himself to the call. On the stand, he spoke about how he made it a point that night to go tell the rest of his family in person about what happened to Jeffrey.
Jeffrey’s father Allan spoke about how much Jeffrey loved his five children.
Allan called Jeffrey a perfectionist, resilient, loving and successful.
“He could fail today and tomorrow, I could talk to him and he would have 10 new plans,” Allan said.
Both Allan and Joe talked about how much of a romantic Jeffrey was.
His wife, Silvia, was the last family member to take the stand. Her testimony began with discussing how she and Jeffrey met. Prosecutors showed her photos from her wedding day.
Silvia told the jury about what it was like at the hospital the day Jeffrey died.
“It seemed like I was trapped in a movie, and this wasn’t my life,” she said, adding that having to talk to her children about what happened was “like having someone stab me over and over [with] that kind of pain.”
Smith testifies on her behalf
Smith took the stand Thursday morning to testify. She started off in tears as she introduced herself to the jury.
Her attorneys asked her about her childhood and her college and early adult careers. Smith explained how she studied business and marketing in college in Iowa – where she’s from — and has aspirations to work in the sports industry.
Smith said she ultimately moved to Austin in 2021 to take a management job at a restaurant. She spoke on the stand about how working in the restaurant industry can be a slippery slope into heavy alcohol and drug use. Still, she maintained she knows she made a mistake the night she chose to drive drunk, and she cried as she apologized to the Richardson family.
Smith said she has been sober ever since, saying taking a sip of alcohol would be an act of disrespect to the Richardson family. She said she has joined support groups and is working on ways to raise awareness about alcohol abuse and the dangers of drinking and driving.
Her attorneys asked the jury to issue a sentence of 10 years or less to give Smith the opportunity for probation and the chance to continue to turn her life around and help others.
Prosecutors, however, pushed for jail time, saying that it doesn’t matter what Smith has done since. The State argued she wouldn’t have had to make any of these changes if the DWI crash didn’t happen, emphasizing that even in jail – Smith can still speak to her family, which Richardson will never have that opportunity again.
KXAN will update this story once a verdict is reached.
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