The jury found a man from Scott County, Indiana guilty of murder after a five-day trial. The man is accused of hitting four family members in Kansas, killing one of them.
Michael Hurley, 35, of Lexington, Indiana, was accused of being high on fentanyl on the night of July 5, 2022, when he ran over the Jones family at the intersection of 2nd and Market streets in downtown Louisville. In addition to the murder charge, Hurley was also indicted on three counts of assault.
Trey Jones, 42, of Nickerson, Kansas, was critically injured in the collision. He died from his injuries two days later. Trey’s wife, Amy, and daughter, Ava, were also seriously injured in the crash.
Ava, a high school basketball player who was being recruited by several Division 1 schools, suffered a traumatic brain injury. Her younger brother sustained minor injuries.
Hurley was found guilty of all charges. On Tuesday, the jury recommended a total prison sentence of 75 years – 35 for the murder of Trey Jones and 20 years each for the assault of Ava and Amy Jones.
They also found Hurley guilty of being a persistent felony offender. The sentence will be served consecutively.
Ava described in detail how bad her injuries were when she went on the witness stand on Thursday. She said the crash has made it hard for her to coordinate her movements and see clearly.
She said she has double vision and can not run or even read because of it.
Ava, who is now a student at the University of Iowa, had just days before the crash promised to play hoops for the Iowa Hawkeyes in college. She said that writing her name now takes twenty seconds.
Ava also talked about the many surgeries she has had and how brain damage has affected her college studies and relationships with friends. One effect of brain damage is memory loss.
Even though Ava signed a National Letter of Intent with Iowa, she was never truly healthy enough to play. She just recently said she was retiring.
Amy Jones gave an emotional statement at the start of Friday. She also talked about how her injuries have changed her life forever.
Amy said in court that she was dragged 112 feet by the car before Hurley slammed on the brakes and she fell off. Over the past two years, Amy has had 18 surgeries and 22 broken bones all over her body.
Monday, during the sentence phase of this case, the jury heard from several witnesses and thought about how Hurley’s crimes had affected people. Hurley could get 20 years to life in jail just for the murder charge.
Several witnesses for the prosecution spoke in court. These included Trey Jones’s only brother, his wife Amy, and his son, Hunter Jones.
Nobody in the Jones family was hurt in the crash except Hunter, who was not there. It was hard for him to decide to take his father off of life support, so he had to fly from college in Kansas to Louisville.
Hunter is now doing his best to take care of his younger brother, who no longer has a father.
He said, “I feel like I have to be there and take on the responsibility that my father did have.” “I need to be there with him and help him along the way.” It is not clear to me what I am doing. It is pretty hard for me to put myself in his place.
For a week, the Jones family thought about the worst day of their lives over and over again. On Tuesday, they shared tears of sadness and relief.
“It makes me feel good.” More so that this will not happen to any other kids or families. “That is great,” Hunter said.
“Not just us, but also people in our community and this community will be able to move on.” I hope it makes people here feel a little safer walking around with their kids. One less person who might be able to do this.
Amelia said, “I am so glad this chapter is over. Now we can work on Ava and my continued recovery.” “I do not think we will ever be able to move on because Ava may never fully recover from her injuries.” We can hope that by taking things one step at a time.
Find out that Hurley has done this kind of act before.
Last year, Hurley was found guilty of illegal drug charges in Indiana. His sentence was put on hold, and he is now on probation. They want to use the Indiana charges as an excuse to give him a longer term, which might affect his chances of getting parole.
A final sentencing hearing will be scheduled for Friday, Dec. 13, at 10 a.m.