Perkins mother convicted of manslaughter in child’s death in SH 33 crash

    Davidson, who has been in custody since her arrest on July 10, 2022, remains held in the Payne County Jail pending her sentencing on Sept. 19 before Associate District Judge Michael Kulling.

    Davidson was originally accused of driving under the influence of methamphetamine during the collision, but the day before the preliminary hearing a former prosecutor amended the allegations in the charge to accuse her only of causing the fatal crash by losing control of her vehicle while driving under suspension or in the alternative by driving left of center. No testimony was given at the trial last week regarding whether or not drugs were present in Davidson’s body at the time of the crash.

    Although the accident had occurred nearly a year earlier, no one from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, which conducts toxicology analysis, testified at the Nov. 3, 2022, preliminary hearing regarding the presence of any drugs in Davidson’s blood. However, at that pre-trial hearing, Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Chad Pape had testified that when he interviewed Davidson at a hospital, she said that on the night before the fatal crash, she had taken methamphetamine about 8 pm and used marijuana at 10 pm.

    Trooper Pape had testified at the preliminary hearing that before the crash, Davidson said, “traffic slowed down in front of her. She said she was not distracted before the collision. She said she started braking, swerved off, corrected, came back in the lane and was struck by a red vehicle.”

    At the trial last week, Dr. Eric Pfeifer, the chief medical examiner for the state, testified that Davidson’s 9-year-old stepson, who was seated on the rear passenger side of the small SUV, was ejected and bled to death. The defense pointed out that CPR was done for 35 minutes on the boy at the scene before he arrived an hour and half after the collision at the Stillwater Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

    Department of Public Safety employee Dennis Nickel testified that Davidson’s driving privileges had been suspended since 2019 because she had previously been involved in a collision without insurance and owed $3,701 in damages.

    OHP Trooper James Stacy testified that nothing outside of the defendant’s actions caused the wreck: “She over-reacted, over-corrected, crossed the center line.”

    The defense did not call any witnesses at the trial.

    In her closing argument, prosecutor Heidi Silcox told jurors, “We’re here because of the defendant’s choices and actions. He was essentially dead on arrival (at SMC). He was ejected and landed 90 feet away along a barbed wire fence.

    “There’s a caution sign as one approaches Highway 33 and Fairgrounds Road. She drives that route two times a day. She was driving under suspension. She could have stayed on the right shoulder and not into oncoming traffic.”

    In his closing argument, defense attorney Royce Hobbs admitted there was no doubt that Davidson was driving under suspension but questioned that the boy’s death was due to that. “What caused the death of Grayson? This accident happened at 4:30 pm. CPR started about 5:25 pm. Dr. Pfeifer told us Grayson Davidson bled to death right there on the side of the road.”

    In the final closing argument, prosecutor Debra Vincent noted, “It is not my job to tell you what the medical response should be.

    “This courtroom is filled with people who are experiencing this tragedy. She crossed over into the direct path of another vehicle. A child was thrown 90 feet, and he lost his life. What happened here was completely avoidable. Why shouldn’t she be held accountable?”

    Davidson told a trooper that neither of her stepsons was restrained by seatbelts or child restraints at the time of the collision, and her 5-year-old son was not restrained until shortly before the collision when her 11-year-old stepson took it upon himself to secure him in a child restraint, an OHP affidavit alleged.