CINCINNATI — On August 6, 2016, Samantha Davis was driving to work when she lost control of her pickup on a ramp at I-275 and I-71 in Montgomery; Davis was ejected from the vehicle as it crashed through an overpass wall and landed on a car below, killing both women inside.
Davis pleaded guilty to charges she faced and, in 2019, was sentenced to serve eight years in prison. However, citing Davis' legal counsel's ineffective assistance and the State of Ohio's illegal introduction of expert testimony in her case, the First District Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Davis' appeal.
She was granted a new trial but chose to accept a plea deal on April 11, 2023. Davis again pleaded guilty to a second-degree felony charge of aggravated vehicular homicide and a fourth-degree felony charge of aggravated vehicular homicide.
On Monday, she was sentenced by Judge Leslie Ghiz to four years in prison for the second-degree felony and 16 months for the fourth-degree felony. Two additional counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and two counts of aggravated possession of drugs were dismissed. Her time already served in jail since her original trial will be credited toward her 16-month sentence.
The day of the fatal crash, Davis was driving with a suspended license in a 21-year-old truck; police also found drugs in her car. Davis admitted in court that she shouldn't have been driving that day.
“I know I had no business being on the road, but never in a million years would I have thought anything like this could or would happen,” Davis said in 2019. “I thought that by going to work I was doing the right thing because I felt like I had to provide for my children. And I had no other option.”
Davis was injured during the crash, when she was ejected from her own vehicle but 67-year-old Sandra Tell and her daughter, 41-year-old Sabrina Miller, were both killed when Davis' truck fell from the overpass above on top of their Nissan sedan.
