On May 14, an Horry County jury convicted a former Coastal Carolina University junior of hitting and killing two people with her Jeep Liberty while the victims rode a moped down Highway 17 Bypass.
The South Carolina Highway Patrol charged Ashley Nicole Smith, 23, with two counts of hit and run involving death after she hit the pair, then left the scene.
Smith’s attorneys filed a request for a new trial in the case May 20 after a new witness came forward and gave a sworn statement that the accident happened nearly 20 minutes before investigators said Smith hit the moped.
“We always knew she wasn't the first one to hit the vehicle; she hit the moped, but there was no one on it. They were already down,” Phillip Smith said.
Phillip, Ashley Smith’s father, told News13 another vehicle hit the moped before his daughter did, “She's guilty of hitting an empty moped, a parked moped and leaving the scene, but so is the other driver.”
Smith said his daughter drove straight to her Conway apartment, then left to meet him in Lancaster to meet with their attorney.
The next day, Smith turned herself in to Troopers at the J. Reuben Long Detention Center.
Smith stood trial May 12 where prosecutors argued physical evidence collected at the scene and from Smith’s Jeep proved she was the first car to hit the moped.
Fifteenth circuit assistant solicitor, Elizabeth Tilley, said investigators found parts of the moped involved in the accident entangled in Smith’s Jeep and “head strikes” from the two victims in the hood of Smith’s car.
It took the jury less than a half hour to convict Smith on May 14.
Smith’s father believes his daughter was not the first car involved in the crash, “There's another person out there that caused this accident and there's a lot of witnesses. There are dozens of cars that came through the scene.”
“There was tons of reasonable doubt around this case about whether she was the first one to strike them, but she got pretty much railroaded in court and she's innocent and they've got the wrong person in jail,” Smith said.
A judge sentenced Smith to 18 months in prison and three years probation, plus repayment of a fine.
Prosecutors are working to schedule a hearing where a judge will decide if the new evidence Smith’s attorneys have will bring the case back to trial.
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