Dayton woman gets 13 years for role in chase
High-speed, deadly police pursuit caused death of Realtor.
Alyssa Irwin-Debraux, 19, guilty of crimes involving high-speed Moraine police pursuit that killed an uninvolved driver.
What a Dayton woman’s attorney called a “tough, tragic case” ended Thursday with her being sentenced to 13 years in prison for her role in a deadly police chase.
Alyssa Irwin-Debraux, 19, will serve time in the Ohio Reformatory for Women after pleading guilty to crimes involving a Sept. 11 high-speed Moraine police pursuit that killed an uninvolved driver, local Realtor Mary Taulbee, 57.
Irwin-Debraux, who had no prior criminal record, apologized in court to many of those involved in and affected by her actions along Ohio 741 through Moraine and Miami Twp. that evening.
But Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Michael Krumholtz said the words of the defendant – who earlier said in court documents she did not directly cause Taulbee’s death – were insufficient.
“The court simply and utterly disagrees,” Krumholtz said.
“For Ms. Irwin-Debraux to say she’s not the one to directly cause the death of Mrs. Taulbee is like saying the person who lit the fuse on the dynamite is not responsible for the resulting explosion,” he added.
After statements and reading letters from Taulbee’s family, Krumholtz sentenced Irwin-Debraux to 10 years for involuntary manslaughter, 18 months for failure to comply and 18 months for grand theft.
Punishments for the crimes – which the defendant on Dec. 20 pleaded guilty to — will be served consecutively, he said. Krumholtz also fined her costs related to Taulbee’s death and barred from