Upgraded Charges Against Driver In Deadly Wreck

By Mike Perleberg

Jeremy Brown

Dearborn County Law Enforcement Center

Kayla Gray died May 13 after almost a month in a coma following a car crash on Wilson Creek Road near Lawrenceburg.

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(Dearborn County, Ind.) - A man who was allegedly high on marijuana when he crashed his vehicle, killing his passenger, has been slapped with revised charges that could put him in prison for far longer.

Jeremy Lee Brown, 29, of Tennessee, wrecked into a guardrail on Wilson Creek Road near Lawrenceburg on April 13.

Kayla Gray, 22, suffered a serious head injury in the crash as she sat in the front seat. That did not stop Brown from allegedly fleeing the crash scene before police arrived, though he was soon afterwards taken into custody.

Gray, a single mother of two from Lawrenceburg, laid in a coma at an area hospital for more than a month before dieing.

On Monday, Dearborn County Prosecutors amended Brown’s charges to include Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated Causing Death with a Prior Conviction within the Past Five Years (Class B felony), Reckless Homicide (Class C felony), and Operating a Vehicle With a Schedule I or II Controlled Substance in Blood Causing Death with a Prior Operating While  Intoxicated Conviction (Class B felony). Those new and amended charges alone could send Brown to prison for up to 20 years for each of the Class B felony counts.

Brown also faces charges of Failure to Stop After an Accident Resulting in Death (Class D felony), Habitual Traffic Violator (Class D felony), and Resisting Law Enforcement by Fleeing (Class A misdemeanor).

The new charging information shows that Brown was allegedly high on marijuana or THC at the time of the crash that killed Gray.

Brown’s driving privileges were suspended at the time of the crash. He had three previous convictions for operating while intoxicated in Indiana, including one as recently as September 2012 in Ripley County.

Brown remains in jail at the Dearborn County Law Enforcement Center awaiting his trial.

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