Milwaukee fatal drunk driving crash; woman gets 10 years in prison
MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee County Judge sentenced Shauntonae Walton on Wednesday, March 20 to 10 years in prison plus an additional fives years of extended supervision in connection to a fatal drunk driving crash at 91st and Bradley that happened December 2022.
Shauntonae Walton pleaded guilty in October 2023 to homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle and knowingly operating without valid license-cause death. A third charge of homicide by use of vehicle with prohibited alcohol content was dismissed.
Case details
Investigators say Walton had a blood alcohol level that was nearly three times the legal limit when she crashed into a tree at 91st and Bradley on Dec. 10, 2022.
DeeAnna Edwards, 31, was in the passenger seat of the vehicle – and died from her injuries. Edwards was a mother of four children. She had come to Milwaukee from Arizona to celebrate the life of a deceased family member when she lost her own life.
Prosecutors say Walton was found to have red, glassy eyes, slurred speech, an odor of intoxicants coming from her and vomit on her clothing. When asked whether she was driving, prosecutors say she initially shook her head "yes." However, in subsequent interviews with police, she claimed she was laying in the back seat at the time of the crash.
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Walton told investigators she had been at Bowlero near 117th and Burleigh with Edwards and they then went to a club near 45th and Burleigh. That's where Walton said after drinking, she began to "fall asleep." She said a bartender helped her to the car, and she was placed in the back seat, laying down, while her companion drove. She said the next thing she knew, she woke up to someone telling her there was a crash, the complaint says.
Police say an investigation revealed no such "club" exists in the location where Walton claimed she was, near 45th or 46th and Burleigh. Investigators also pointed out she was not found in the back of the car at the scene of the crash.
Walton blew a .223 at the hospital, prosecutors say, and she has never had a valid driver's license. She was cited for OWI in Waukesha in 2018 and in Brookfield in 2021.