HANCOCK COUNTY — The woman accused of driving drunk and causing a fatal crash July 4 on State Road 234 near Troy Road is facing more felony charges.
Leanna Murphy, 24, of Richmond, was back in Hancock County Superior Court 1 in front of Judge Terry Snow Wednesday morning for a pretrial conference. She was charged with two additional felony counts stemming from the crash.
Murphy sat next to her attorney, Robert Elsea of Greenfield, and answered “yes” when asked by Snow if she understood the new charges against her.
Rachel Thomas, 44, of Wilkinson, who was a backseat passenger in the car struck head-on by Murphy’s car, died from injuries suffered in the crash. Five people in all were injured, including Justin M. Wiley, a backseat passenger in the car Murphy hit.
Wiley sustained a broken sternum, broken back, broken neck and had several inches of his small intestine and his spleen removed during surgery, officials said.
The severity of Wiley’s injuries prompted the Hancock County prosecutor’s office to add the new charges.
Deputy prosecutor Kevin Kelly said they are just now filing additional charges against Murphy because it was unclear the night of the crash how serious all the injuries were.
“One of the male victims, they didn’t know the full extent of the injuries he sustained at the time,” Kelly said. “His injuries are much more severe than we originally thought.”
In addition to four original felony counts and two misdemeanor charges against Murphy, she now faces another Level 4 felony charge of causing catastrophic injury when operating a vehicle while intoxicated; and a Level 5 felony charge of causing serious bodily injury while operating a vehicle while intoxicated. The new charges carry up to an additional 18 years in prison.
Murphy, whose blood-alcohol level was 0.094 shortly after the crash, police said, was already facing a Level 4 felony count of causing death when operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated; a Level 4 felony charge of causing catastrophic injury when operating a vehicle while intoxicated; a Level 5 felony charge of causing serious bodily injury while operating a vehicle while intoxicated; as well as a Level 5 felony count of reckless homicide. Those felony charges carry up to 36 years in prison.
According to police reports, Murphy’s vehicle, a Mini Cooper, crossed the center line and struck the other car, a Ford Focus.
Other victims of the crash taken to Methodist Hospital for care included Shelbie Lynn Gossett Kazen, who was driving the car hit by Murphy, and another one of her passengers, Jonathan C. Davidson.
Murphy and a passenger in the Mini, Brett Lamb, were taken to Hancock Regional Hospital with minor injuries.
Police said Murphy and the passenger in the Mini were heading home from the Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center in Noblesville, where they had attended a concert. The driver of the Ford was on her way to dropping off passengers at their homes.
Murphy, who is out on $3,000 cash bond, has another pretrial conference slated for Wednesday, Sept. 25 at 10:30 a.m.
