Shanae Moorman – A man charged in a deadly DUI crash seven years ago has been found guilty of reckless homicide and driving under the influence. The jury’s verdict came Thursday evening, four-and-a-half hours after deliberations began. Prosecutors say that Bradley Caraway drove drunk and killed his passenger, 25-year-old Shanae Moorman, and then walked away from the wreckage.
Officers say that after meeting Moorman, a former UofL cheerleader, at a St. Matthews bar in August 2016, they left together. Investigators say Caraway was twice the legal limit when he crashed on Interstate 64, near Gene Snyder. Moorman was ejected and pinned under the car, while Caraway was found hours later walking along the freeway.
After a week of testimony, closing arguments were heard Thursday.
“It’s absolutely human and natural that we would want to find somebody, anybody responsible,” said defense attorney Rob Eggert. Eggert told the jury his client wasn’t the driver. He said what the prosecutor identified as driver’s side seat belt marks on Caraway was “cherry-picked evidence” and came from being strapped on a gurney.
He also presented a single key in the ignition, claiming Caraway would have taken it off his key ring and given it to Moorman to drive. Eggert was also critical of the investigation.
“Driver’s side airbag? Not tested. Two swabs from the gear shift — that would have been probative if Ms. Moorman’s hand had been on the gear shift? Not tested. Swabs from interior door, driver’s side door handle. Not tested,” Eggert said.
Prosecutor Andrew Daley urged the jury to use common sense and ignore what he labeled “distractions.”
“The car starts rolling, the passenger side over driver side. She’s thrown against the window, the window breaks,” Daley said. “She is ejected and catapulted out. Her injuries were sustained outside the car. It’s why her blood is not inside the car.”
Daley said the night Moorman was killed, she had taken Ubers and driven with friends, so it’s unlikely she would have met a stranger at a bar, grabbed his keys and offered to drive after a night of drinking. Caraway, he said, was not only the driver but a criminal.
“This cold, calculating, cowardly killer is guilty of the murder of Shanae Moorman,” Daley said. Caraway received the maximum sentence on that reckless homicide charge, which is a five-year sentence. With time served, the judge said the sentence was “satisfied” and Caraway was released from custody.
Moorman’s family and loved ones were seen leaving the courtroom in tears and declined to comment.