Staff photos / Ed Runyan Kyashia D. Madison is helped into a chair after she said she was about to faint during her sentencing hearing in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. Madison was sentenced Thursday to 20 to 24 years in prison for killing one person and seriously injuring three others in a 2023 East Side crash.

YOUNGSTOWN — Kyashia D. Madison, 29, a mother of four, was sentenced to 20 to 24 years in prison Thursday after pleading guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide in the Aug 16, 2023, death of Denasia R. Douglas, 19, in a two-car crash on the East Side.

Madison got eight years in prison for causing the fatal crash while she was intoxicated, 12 more years on three counts of aggravated vehicular assault for injuries to three other people in the car with Douglas, a mother of two. And Madison also was convicted of child endangering and drunken driving.

She had 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.

Madison was emotional at the defense table before her sentencing hearing began, and her emotions overflowed as the mother and best friend of Douglas spoke from the podium to Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Judge Maureen Sweeney.

“Aug. 16 was the worst night of my life,” Yolanda Winlock said of the night her daughter Denasia was killed in the road in front of her house on Victor Avenue. “I know she didn’t intend to come out and hurt my daughter, but the consequences of drinking and driving, it took my daughter’s life. I have not been the same since that night. All I have left is her two beautiful babies.”

Police said the 9:39 p.m. crash happened as Madison drove 56 miles per hour in a 25 mph zone and made an improper pass to the left as the car in front of her attempted to turn left into a driveway going about 9 mph.

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. Douglas was in the rear driver’s side and got the majority of the impact, Winlock said after the hearing.

Winlock heard the crash and went outside to see her daughter “dead basically,” she said. The coroner’s office said “She may as well have hit her with a semi truck. That’s how bad she damaged her,” Winlock said.

Jasmine Hyde, best friend of Douglas, also gave a victim impact statement.

“Watching responders pull my best friend’s lifeless body out of the car, seeing my God sisters hurt and in pain, having to hug Denasia’s parents as they hurt in unimaginable pain, hearing my goddaughters cry for their mother to come home is a continuous nightmare,” Hyde said.

“All of the physical pain, broken ribs, surgeries, the days spent in the hospital, was and is still nothing compared to the life that was lost. The mental and emotional pain it caused us. This is a lifetime of pain and hurt,” she said.

“I need you to know that because of your decisions, a beautiful soul was taken from her children, parents, siblings and a neighborhood that loved to watch us grow up together,” Hyde said of Madison.

She said it’s painful for Douglas’s parents and daughters to “wake up every day and look out the very front door where this tragedy happened,” she said. The car was turning into Douglas’ parents’ driveway at the time of the crash. “It’s not fair. Our street, Victor Avenue, will never be the same,” Hyde said.

“My goddaughters have to grow up without their mother,” Hyde said crying. “They can’t feel or touch her or hear their voice, but your children have that chance,” she said.

Madison kept her hands in front of her face as Hyde spoke.

“I pray you learn a lesson. And I’m thankful there will be one less drunk driver on my street,” Hyde said.

The crash occurred when Madison’s 2007 GMC Yukon hit the driver’s side of the 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt. Three people suffered serious injuries, in addition to Douglas being killed. Perdue’s vehicle was traveling an estimated 9 mph in a 25 mph zone, the crash report states.

Defense attorney Mark Lavelle said before sentencing that when a plea agreement was reached in this case, prosecutors were not going to recommend an unspecified prison sentence, but in a sentencing memorandum filed Wednesday, the prosecutor’s office requested that the judge impose consecutive sentences.

The only way to do that would be to increase the minimum sentence upward from three years, Lavelle said. He felt that prosecutors “reneged on the agreement reached” and “tried to come in the back door” by not telling Madison that when she reached her plea. Lavelle said he discussed with Madison rescinding her plea, Madison said she “prefers to go forward today to essentially put this issue behind her.”

Lavelle asked the judge to give Madison between four and six years in prison.

Lavelle said the laws on drunken driving and crashes are “not working” and said Madison “has been consuming alcohol since she was a young female. It was the natural way to live, to survive, to numb the pain of life of her circumstances and obviously led to this particular tragic result.”

Afterward, she got sober “and went through a rehabilitation program,” he said. She has four children and is pregnant, Lavelle said.

Madison, who was next to Lavelle, said she was going to faint and needed to sit down, so deputies helped her into a chair, where she remained through most of the rest of the hearing.

Lavelle read a letter Madison wrote, saying “I wish I could take any hurt and pain I caused away. I wish it was me to lose my life and not (Douglas).”

A sentencing memorandum from the county prosecutor’s office states that Madison was driving on a suspended license when the crash occurred, and an open bottle of tequila was found on the driver’s side floor board of Madison’s vehicle.

The car’s crash data recorder indicated that a half second before the crash, Madison’s vehicle was traveling 56 mph and at one second before impact, the vehicle’s gas pedal was “at 100 percent.”

All four people in the Cobalt in which Douglas was riding suffered various injuries. The driver spent two days in the hospital with internal bleeding, fractured ribs, abrasions, and a collapsed lung. A passenger spent five days in the hospital and was diagnosed with broken ribs, collapsed lung, lung contusion and a lacerated spleen.

Another passenger spent five days in the hospital and was diagnosed with multiple broken ribs, collapsed lung and a ruptured diaphragm, the memorandum states. The four children in Madison’s vehicle were not evaluated for injuries and were taken from the scene by a relative.

Mahoning County Prosecutor Lynn Maro issued a news release about the Madison case after the hearing, stating, “Choosing to drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs is a reckless decision that endangers everyone on the road.

“This was a preventable tragedy. I commend the Youngstown Police Department and assistant prosecutors Patrick Fening and Robert Andrews for their dedication and hard work on this case.”