26 January 2024
Shaterries Monique Barlow. (Courtesy of GoFundMe)
A Ramsey County judge sentenced a 21-year-old woman to jail instead of prison Thursday for causing a crash that killed her passenger near a St. Paul freeway ramp in 2021.
Reshawna Eunique Mosley was given nine months in the Ramsey County workhouse by Judge Reynaldo Aligada Jr. for the July 22, 2021, crash that killed 19-year-old Shaterries Monique Barlow, of Minneapolis, at the Shepard Road entrance ramp to Interstate 35E south.
Aligada found that Mosley was speeding and under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash. In an August bench trial, Aligada convicted Mosley of criminal vehicular homicide by operating a motor vehicle in a grossly negligent manner and criminal vehicular homicide with negligence while under the influence of alcohol.
Mosley, who has no prior convictions, faced a presumptive sentence of four years in prison. Aligada stayed the term for five years, during which time Mosley will be on probation. Aligada ordered that she continue receiving mental health and chemical dependency treatment, and attend and complete a Mothers Against Drunk Driving victim impact panel.
Family and friends of Barlow and Mosley sat on either side of the 10th-floor courtroom for the sentencing. Afterward, a woman who hugged an urn with Barlow’s ashes was asked about the judge’s sentence.
“It was stupid,” the woman said, adding that she is Barlow’s aunt. “We don’t like what (Mosley) got, but she got something. Hopefully she learned her lesson.”
‘Blacked out’
The crash happened just before 12:30 a.m., when Mosley’s Kia Forte left the interstate ramp, went airborne and slammed into a hillside, landing onto its roof. Barlow died at the scene. Mosley was transported to Regions Hospital with trauma to her head, knee and liver.
Troopers found a half-empty bottle of alcohol and marijuana in Mosley’s car.
Mosley admitted to Minnesota State Patrol troopers that she had drunk tequila before driving, telling them, “I believe I blacked out,” according to the March 2022 charges.
A sample of Mosley’s blood drawn two hours after the crash showed a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.085, the charges said. The legal limit to drive in Minnesota is 0.08 BAC. She also had THC, a component of marijuana, in her blood.
Mosley also admitted to speeding and said that Barlow told her to slow down before the crash.
A crash reconstructionist determined Mosley was driving 99 mph just before attempting to turn onto the interstate and at least 56 mph at the time of the crash. The speed limit on the ramp is 30 miles per hour.
Bench trial
Mosley waived a jury trial, and Aligada on Aug. 29 found her guilty on stipulated facts, meaning the prosecution and defense presented evidence for him to consider before he reached the verdicts.
“The court finds that Ms. Mosley drove her car in a grossly negligent manner, because the facts support a combination of egregious behaviors that rise above mere carelessness,” Aligada wrote in his memorandum supporting the verdict.
Aligada acquitted Mosley of three other criminal vehicular homicide charges that alleged she had an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more within two hours of driving, was under the influence of a controlled substance, and was under the influence of a combination of alcohol and a controlled substance.
Reshawna Eunique Mosley (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)
Aligada ruled that Mosley’s attorney, Sarah Prentice-Mott, successfully argued the competency and accuracy of the blood-alcohol concentration result, because the test was taken two hours after the crash.
Aligada noted that statutes and case law does not bar prosecution from using a blood sample that was collected more than two hours after driving. However, he wrote, Prentice-Mott “correctly argues that other than the BCA (Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension) lab report with a test result, the record shows no interpretation of how a lab result taken more than two hours after driving conduct may relate to what Ms. Mosley’s BAC was during the legally relevant period of within two hours of driving.”
The judge also agreed with Prentice-Mott that there was insufficient evidence presented to prove if or how the presence of marijuana in Mosley’s system affected her ability to operate the car.
“There is no evidence as to when the substance was ingested, or what that amount of substance in someone’s blood means as it relates to impacting their behavior,” Aligada wrote.
Mosley was 19 at the time of the crash and living in Minneapolis; she has since moved to St. Paul.
A mother’s grief
Barlow’s mother, Ophelia Barlow, said Thursday in her victim impact statement that she lost her oldest child: “My baby. I would give anything to have her back.”
She said she was “at a loss for words” and mad for what Mosley did.
“I don’t know if the person feels remorse about the situation. There’s a lot of unanswered questions that I won’t get answers to. … She took my first child, my first start of life.”
In arguing for the downward departure, Prentice-Mott said Mosley has demonstrated that she is particularly amenable to probation by completing inpatient treatment, engaging in aftercare and participating in mental health services. She said Mosley “feels an incredible amount of guilt and an incredible amount of remorse.”
A four-year prison sentence would likely mean Mosley would not receive the counseling and other resources “to address the underlying causes of her conduct in this case,” Prentice-Mott said.
When it came time to address the court, Mosley said Barlow’s death “is something I’m going to carry with me the rest of my life. I don’t think I’ll be the same again. I’m not OK with just going on like things never happened the way that they did.”
Before handing down the sentence, Aligada said the decision he reached Thursday “is not what either side is asking for.”
Aligada commended Mosley for her progress in treatment, adding “you have come a long way.”
Aligada said he weighed heavily the risk to public safety “and my concern is that if you go to prison without more mental and chemical dependency treatment, you will come out more dangerous.”
Related Articles
Former Maplewood CFO sentenced to federal prison for embezzling $3M from employer
Family of Ricky Cobb II expresses satisfaction with murder charge against Minnesota state trooper
St. Paul charges: Man who accidentally shot himself at elementary school left his holster at home
US Supreme Court rules Alabama can proceed with the country’s first execution by nitrogen gas
Trump White House official Peter Navarro gets a 4-month sentence for defying a House Jan. 6 subpoena