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An Indiana jury sentenced Briana Rice to 20 1/2 years in prison after she was found guilty of killing her boyfriend by running him over with her car.
Rice, 25, was charged with and found guilty of voluntary manslaughter, domestic battery with a deadly weapon and leaving the scene of an accident causing death for the 2019 killing of Terrondy Jones, the Associated Press reported. Jones was one of the over 12 million people who experience physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States every year, according to the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
On April 24, 2019, two witnesses said they saw Rice driving slowly next to Jones, then 25 years old, as he walked in East Chicago, Indiana, the two of them arguing, the Times of Northwest Indiana reported. They said they heard Jones telling Rice to leave, saying "Go about your business, (expletive)."
The witnesses then saw Rice strike Jones with her car, back the car up, then accelerate it forward to hit him again, the Times added. Jones was dragged by the vehicle, leaving him with several skull fractures, a broken leg and internal bleeding that ended up being fatal, court records said.
At the sentencing, Lake Criminal Court Judge Gina Jones said Jones "died a very painful death."
Rice did not call 911, instead drove to a family member's home to get rid of her car, which was never recovered, the Times report added.
Jones' family told the Times he left behind a young son "who needed him." Damien Cole, Jones' cousin, told the local newspaper it was harder to accept Jones' death because he was killed while trying to walk away from the argument.
"Terrondy was taken away from us because he did the right thing," he said. "The horrendous result was a death that did not need to happen."
Scott King, Rice's defense attorney, told the court Rice did not intend for Jones to die, according to the Times. At the 2021 trial, he implied Jones threw himself on the hood of Rice's car and Rice accidentally ran over Jones when he fell off the hood. King argued for a 10-year sentence while Lake County Deputy Prosecutor Jessica Arnold pushed for the maximum voluntary manslaughter sentence of 30 years.
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, as of 2016, 26.8 percent of men in Indiana and 40.4 percent of women in the state experienced physical violence, sexual violence or stalking from a romantic partner in their lifetime. The National Domestic Violence Hotline can be reached at 1-800-799-SAFE.
Update 02/18/22 1:15 p.m. ET: This story was updated to add more information.
