'She's charged with murder' | Judge keeps bond for Louisville woman charged in fatal I-264 crash at $100,000 | Crime Reports

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The woman charged with murder after a fiery crash early Sunday morning on Interstate 264 faces a $100,000 full-cash bond despite her attorney's claim that she wasn't behind the wheel.

Maria Gibson, 42, (alias: Maria Lara) is charged with murder and operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol, among other charges, according to an arrest citation. Police said she was drunk when she crashed into a vehicle driven by 33-year-old Dominique Johnson on I-264, near Breckenridge Lane.

One of the vehicles burst into flames, and Johnson died at the scene.

A passenger in Gibson's vehicle was taken to University of Louisville Hospital with injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening.

In an arrest report, Louisville Metro Police said Gibson had been drinking at a bar on Preston Highway shortly before the accident and that she "remembers starting her vehicle at the bar, and then she blacked out, and the next thing she knew she was in an accident."

Police said she smelled strongly of alcohol, and a witness saw her weaving back and forth before the crash, nearly hitting a concrete barrier. Gibson's earring and cellphone were found in the front seat, according to police, and she had a visible seat belt mark running from her left shoulder, down her chest and to her right side.

Gibson appeared in court Monday morning, and a not-guilty plea was entered on her behalf. Her attorney, Alex Fleming, asked Jefferson District Judge Annette Karem to reduce $100,000 bond, adding that she "maintains her innocence."

"She maintains that she's not even operating the vehicle at the time," he said. "If you read the narrative, she admits to starting the ignition and then doesn't remember anything else until the accident."

Fleming went on to accuse police of withholding witness names from the report and said at least one witness described pulling Gibson from the back seat.

"They crafted this in such a way that they go through great pains to try to put Ms. Gibson in that front seat, and the reason they do that is because of the question as to whether or not she's in the front seat at that time," he said. "They talk about how there's an earring and a cellphone found in the front ..."

"And no other people around the vehicle except your client," Karem added.

"She will maintain that somebody else was operating the vehicle and left the scene," Fleming said.

"Even though she started the vehicle?" Judge Karem replied.

"That's what they're alleging she says," Fleming said.

Fleming went on to make a number of arguments, citing his interpretation of physics and how he thought Gibson could get the seat belt marks on her body without being the driver.

"Mr. Fleming, I appreciate all the arguments you're making," Karem interrupted. "I have to go by what I have here in front. Your arguments are great for trial. Your arguments are great for a probable cause hearing. But for this event, I have to look at what is before me in the citation — what her record is — and, I mean everything in the citation leads me to believe she's the driver."

A spokeswoman for the Jefferson County Attorney's Office argued against any bond reduction.

"At this juncture, the county's position is that the bond has been appropriately set," she said. "We're talking here about a DUI with a fatality. It's an allegation of rear-ending another vehicle that was then engulfed in flames and the driver of that other vehicle is unfortunately deceased."

In the end, Karem agreed to keep Gibson's bond at $100,000, full-cash. Fleming tried to argue that she should be released to Home Incarceration if she posted 10% of that, but Karem dismissed his request.

I appreciate your arguments, Mr. Fleming," Karem said. "She is not just charged with DUI. She is charged with murder. And so the bond is gonna be $100,000 cash, HIP if posted."

For Marvet Dewayne Johnson, the father of Dominique Johnson who died in the crash, the judge's decision was welcome. Marvet was there for the hearing, as was some of Gibson's family members.

"I wasn't sure how I was gonna react to any of her family," he said. "Everyone told me to just kind of stay calm, breathe and keep my composure. But for the most part, I did. I was satisfied with the judge not changing the bond."

He said at the time of the accident, his son had been hanging out with some friends and was on his way home.

Marvet Dewayne Johnson, the father of Dominique Johnson, speaks with WDRB's Darby Beane.

"I hadn't heard from him all night, and I knew something was wrong," he said. "So I tried to call, and his phone kept going dead. It wasn't until 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon that it hit me that something was really wrong, and then I found out."

In tears, Marvet Dewayne Johnson said he came forward for this interview, "because things like this happen and it's all about the person who did it it, and not the person who died from it.

"And I just can't let that go by. I can't do that."

He described the loss of his son as "an emptiness in me right now" that Gibson's family "will never know."

"First, he was my one and only," Marvet Dewayne Johnson said. "That's what I always called him. He was a father with three kids. He'd never been in trouble. A good heart. Anybody that knows my son, they know what kind of man he is. He was loved, not just by his family but by his friends."

He added that his son was the father of three children, ages 7, 6 and 10 months.

"And now, his kids will grow up without him and his parents will have to deal with this for the rest of our lives, not to mention his sister," he said. "There really aren't any words really that I can say, really about my son. Like my daughter, my son – they're my world. It's as simple as that."

Gibson's next court appearance is scheduled for Aug. 23.

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