Charles man sentenced for manslaughter after crash

The state’s attorney for Charles County announced on April 10 that the Charles County Circuit Court sentenced Michael Darrell Dukes, 22, of Hyattsville to 10 years with all but 18 months suspended in prison for the 2022 death of Zkira Kemp.

Dukes entered a guilty plea to gross negligent manslaughter earlier this year on Feb. 26. In addition to the 1½ year of jail time, Dukes will be on supervised probation for five years upon his release.

On July 8, 2022, officers from the Charles County Sheriff’s Office responded to Maryland Point Road in Nanjemoy after a single-vehicle collision.

Upon arrival, they discovered that a black Kia Rio crossed the double yellow center lane markings on the road, struck a tree and caught on fire.

Dukes and another passenger were located outside of the vehicle. Kemp was unable to escape the vehicle and was pronounced deceased at the scene, a release from the State’s Attorney’s Office said.

An investigation revealed that at approximately 2:18 a.m., Dukes was operating the Kia with one passenger in the front seat and Kemp, the vehicle owner, in the backseat.

The Kia crossed the double yellow center lane markings when the roadway turned to the right. The vehicle struck a mailbox post and then collided with a tree. Dukes was able to escape the vehicle and help the other passenger out of the vehicle before it caught on fire, the release said.

However, Kemp was unable to exit, according to the sheriff’s office. The fire after the collision resulted in a total loss of the vehicle and its contents.

Dukes and the other passenger were transported to a hospital for their injuries where he was treated for life-threatening injuries. He and the other passenger survived.

A toxicology report of Dukes detected cannabis and Benzodiazepine present at the time of the incident, according to the release.

At the sentencing, Assistant State’s Attorney Laura Caspar told the judge that Dukes “purposefully took a drug to alter his mind then got in the car and drove. This is the very definition of excessive harm, not only to kill someone but to rob their mother of burying her child.”

Caspar said, “This was not an accident. It could have been prevented by him not using drugs.”