Henry County jury finds woman not guilty of man's death

By: Matt Elofson | Dothan Eagle
Published: November 18, 2009

A Henry County jury found a 69-year-old Missouri woman not guilty Tuesday in the death of a Dothan man during a tractor trailer crash on U.S. 431 in 2002.

Assistant District Attorney Nereida Bundy said the jury deliberated a couple of hours on Tuesday before returning the acquittal for Donna Brown. According to court records, Brown, of Joplin, Mo., was indicted by a grand jury in 2004 on a felony vehicular homicide charge. Bundy said Brown was driving a tractor trailer at the time of the crash, colliding with a Lincoln driven by James Smith.

District Attorney Doug Valeska said if convicted, Brown faced one to five years in prison for the felony charge.

Bundy said the crash happened in April 2002 in front of a yeast plant on U.S. 431 near Newville. Valeska said Smith formerly served as the principal of the Northview High School in Dothan.

Bundy said the indictment charged Brown with a failure to wear her glasses and making an improper turn. She said the crash happened after Brown turned onto the southbound lane of U.S. 431. She said it was not a head-on collision, but Smith’s vehicle collided with the trailer of the truck.

She said troopers with the Alabama State Highway Patrol and the Dothan Police Department responded and investigated the crash.

Samuel Clenney III, the attorney who represented Brown, could not be reached for comment.