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Michael Darrell Dukes, 22, was sentenced to 10 years, with all but 18 months suspended after pleading guilty to the gross negligent manslaughter of Zkiara Kemp in February.
On July 8, 2022, officers from the Charles County Sheriff's Office were called to Maryland Point Road in Nanjemoy, where there was a reported fiery single-vehicle crash involving a driver and two passengers.
Investigators determined that a black Kia Rio crossed the double yellow center line on the road and struck a mailbox and collided into a tree and catching fire.
The vehicle was completely destroyed by the fire.
Dukes and another passenger were located outside of the vehicle, though Kemp was unable to escape and died at the scene. He and the other passenger were rushed to an area hospital, where the driver was treated for life-threatening injuries; however, both survived.
A subsequent toxicology report determined that Dukes was under the influence of cannabis and Benzodiazepine.
At sentencing, Assistant State’s Attorney Laura Caspar told the judge that Dukes, “purposefully took a drug to alter his mind then got in the car and drove. – This is the very definition of excessive harm, not only to kill someone but to rob their mother of burying her child.”
She added, “This was not an accident. It could have been prevented by him not using drugs.”
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