One person was killed in the crash. FILE PHOTO
A 20-year-old Washington Court House woman will spend a year in prison after she plead guilty to three felony charges in January for her role in the death of an 18-year-old Washington Court House man in February 2012.
Shyanne K. Huffman, 703 Pearl Street, pleaded guilty to three fourth degree felonies in Fayette County Common Pleas Court after deputies and prosecutors said she lied to them regarding her involvement in the February 12 crash that claimed the life of 18-year-old Cody B. Penwell.
She changed her pleas from not guilty plea to guilty in January on one count of vehicle homicide and two counts of vehicular assault.
According to officials, the crash happened in the area of 7431 Robinson Road at about 8:40 p.m.
It was initially reported to deputies that Jacob R. Curtain, 19, of Washington Court House, was driving a 2005 Toyota Camry southeast on Robinson Road when he lost control of the vehicle.
The Toyota left the right side of the roadway, went airborne along the north bank of Mills Branch Creek, and hit a bridge abutment on the south side of the creek.
The vehicle rolled and ended up on its top.
Curtain and Huffman, who was 19-years-old at the time, both were injured in the crash.
Three medical helicopters responded to the crash scene. Curtain went to Grant Medical Center, and Huffman went to Miami Valley Hospital.
Brianna Shiltz, 16, and 18-year-old Cody B. Penwell were riding in the back seat of the Toyota and weren’t wearing seatbelts at the time of the crash, according to officials.
Shiltz was taken to Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Penwell was unconscious after the crash. Paramedics transported him to Fayette County Memorial Hospital where the county coroner later pronounced him dead.
Members of the Traffic Crash Reconstruction Unit say it is apparent that physical evidence in the car was inconsistent with the injuries received by Curtain and reported front seat passenger Huffman.
Authorities later confirmed that Huffman, who was not a licensed driver at the time, was the driver of the vehicle at the time of the crash and that Curtain was the front seat passenger.
Only Curtain and Huffman were wearing seat belts at the time of the crash, but were able to crawl out of the car before the first Deputy arrived on the scene.
Huffman was driving nearly 70 miles per hour in a 55 mile per hour zone when the accident occurred, according to officials.
Huffman will serve one year in prison for the charges. By law, she had to be sentenced to a minimum mandatory sentence of six months in prison but faced up to four-and-a-half years in prison. She will have five years of driver’s license suspension and must pay over $800 in restitution.