By Conrad Dudderar
Staff Writer
A Yukon woman who faces prison in connection with a deadly drunk driving crash has been bound over for trial.
Cassandra Ann Bray, 41, was charged Feb. 22 in Canadian County District Court with first-degree manslaughter and DUI resulting in great bodily injury.
Special Judge Khristan K. Strubhar has found probable cause that the defendant committed the crimes, according to court minutes.
District court arraignment is set at 9 a.m. Oct. 18 before District Judge Paul Hesse.
The felony case stems from a deadly three-vehicle traffic collision that occurred at 11:22 p.m. Oct. 29, 2021, at State Highway 66 and Sara Road near the Kilpatrick Turnpike in Yukon.
Lacey Jo Martin, 16, was killed and three other people were seriously injured in the crash.
Bray appeared with attorneys John Hunsucker and Douglas Baxter at a Sept. 9th preliminary hearing in Canadian County District Court.
Judge Strubhar bound Bray over for trial after hearing sworn witness testimony, reviewing exhibits and hearing arguments from counsel.
Assistant District Attorney Austin T. Murrey alleges Bray – “without a premeditated design to effect death” – caused the death of Lacey Jo Martin while the defendant was “unlawfully engaged in a misdemeanor” by driving a Ford Edge “while under the influence of alcohol” and/or “exceeding the lawful speed limit.”
Bray was driving “with a breath alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more that made the defendant incapable for safely driving a motor vehicle” when she caused the crash in which Zoe Stovall, Tiffany Cook and Shawn Edwards “suffered broken bones, damaged organs and other internal and external injuries”, according to the charging documents.
Lacey Jo Martin – a 10th grader at Epic Online School – was headed back home to Elk City after spending time with friends in Oklahoma City when the October 2021 traffic collision occurred on Yukon’s east side.
Oklahoma City Police investigated the fatal crash, finding Bray was allegedly driving at excessive speeds while under the influence of alcohol.
First-degree manslaughter is punishable by not less than four years in prison.
DUI resulting in great bodily injury is punishable by four to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $5,000.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Martin was a back-seat passenger in a 2013 Chevy Cruze driven by Elk City’s Cook that was struck by Bray’s 2017 Ford Edge.
Bray was driving westbound in the inside lane of Hwy 66 at a “high rate of speed” while intoxicated, according to an Oklahoma City police report.
Bray failed to react to her “closing rate” on the westbound Chevy Cruze “until right before impact,” officer Jeffrey Hauck’s report indicates.
The Yukon woman tried to swerve right but the driver’s side front of her Ford Edge impacted with the Chevy Cruze’s passenger side rear.
The vehicle crossed the center median and entered the eastbound Hwy 66 inside lane where it collided with a 2006 Mitsubishi Galant driven by an Oklahoma City teen.
The Chevy Cruze flipped onto its driver’s side before coming to a rest, partially in the grass median and partially in the eastbound Hwy 66 inside lane.
Bray was arrested the scene for driving under the influence and a breath test showed her blood alcohol content was .12, She was booked into the Canadian County Jail for causing a DUI injury accident.
Bray posted bond and was released from custody before Lacey Martin died from her injuries Nov. 10 after spending nearly two weeks in the intensive care unit at OU Medical Center
Cook, the driver of the Chevy Cruze, suffered six broken ribs and a ruptured spleen.
A second back-seat passenger suffered severe injuries and was in the ICU while the front-seat passenger was treated for minor injuries.
The driver of the Mitsubishi Galant suffered a broken leg in the crash. The front-seat passenger in that vehicle was treated for minor injuries.