Montgomery County, MO (KCTV) -
A woman charged with involuntary manslaughter in a wrong way crash that killed a man will be back in a Missouri courtroom for a second trial.
There are many questions surrounding the case against Kelli Smith. A jury will attempt to determine if Smith is a careless drunk driver or a victim who was slipped a date rape drug.
An appeals court ruled Smith deserved a new trial because of an issue with jury instructions in her first trial.
The case goes back to Feb. 25, 2012.
On that day, Kelli Smith left her friends in Columbia and drove 50 miles, sometimes the wrong way, down Interstate 70. Her trip ended in a fiery crash near Danville, MO. The crash killed Thomas Sullivan.
Smith was clinging to life as she was pulled from the wreckage of her SUV and Sullivan's vehicle. Sullivan, a father of two, died at the scene.
“She truly wishes it was her that died in the wreck if someone was to die," Jim Smith, Kelli's father said.
Prosecutors charged the then 22-year-old with involuntary manslaughter, claiming she went to several bars with friends that night and drove the wrong way down the highway for miles. They say Smith's blood alcohol level was .085 percent.
"I've never seen them wait so long to take blood from someone," Jennifer Bukowsky, Smith's Attorney commented.
Bukowsky says the blood sample should be thrown out because investigators waited nearly eight hours to take it, then left it unrefrigerated for ten days, sometimes storing it in the lead investigator's car.
“It was in his vehicle which he was driving around and kept in a heated shed,” Bukowsky shared.
Smith's family says investigators also missed glaring red flags that suggest something else happened that night.
After the crash at the hospital, her parents said a nurse pulled them aside and told them they'd conducted a sexual assault exam because of suspicious bruising on Smith's body.
“There is no explanation for the pry marks on her inner thighs,” Bukowsky stated.
As she recovered, Smith also noticed thumb print bruises on his daughter's wrists.
Bukowsky says the injuries to Smith's cervix were from a sexual assault, not a crash. The attorney asked the lead investigator to explain those injuries in court.
"'What did you match the injuries to her cervix to?' He indicated he did not know what a cervix was and asked me to explain that to him during trial,” Bukowsky said.
“We just trusted and expected the patrol would do a thorough investigation. It really wasn't until the trial that we realized the extent of what was done or the lack of what was done,” Smith said.
Prosecutors argued they tested Smith for date rape drugs and found none in her system.
“We know that a lot of these date rape drugs clear your blood very quickly, within four hours,” Bukowsky shared.
Investigators also failed to find any semen. Court records show prosecutors called Smith's date rape defense, "a far-fetched scenario."
“Kelli doesn't have any memory for hours leading up to that crash. It wasn't her that saw suspicious injuries when she was unconscious in the hospital and they did a rape exam she didn't ask for this,” Bukowsky said.
"In closing arguments, I argued she had been raped twice, once by this unknown perpetrator and once by the system," Bukowsky stated.
Two families haunted by mysterious car accident that killed Missouri father
A woman charged with involuntary manslaughter in a wrong way crash that killed a man will be back in a Missouri courtroom for a second trial.
There are many questions surrounding the case against Kelli Smith. A jury will attempt to determine if Smith is a careless drunk driver or a victim who was slipped a date rape drug.
An appeals court ruled Smith deserved a new trial because of an issue with jury instructions in her first trial.
The case goes back to Feb. 25, 2012.
On that day, Kelli Smith left her friends in Columbia and drove 50 miles, sometimes the wrong way, down Interstate 70. Her trip ended in a fiery crash near Danville, MO. The crash killed Thomas Sullivan.
Smith was clinging to life as she was pulled from the wreckage of her SUV and Sullivan's vehicle. Sullivan, a father of two, died at the scene.
“She truly wishes it was her that died in the wreck if someone was to die," Jim Smith, Kelli's father said.
Prosecutors charged the then 22-year-old with involuntary manslaughter, claiming she went to several bars with friends that night and drove the wrong way down the highway for miles. They say Smith's blood alcohol level was .085 percent.
"I've never seen them wait so long to take blood from someone," Jennifer Bukowsky, Smith's Attorney commented.
Bukowsky says the blood sample should be thrown out because investigators waited nearly eight hours to take it, then left it unrefrigerated for ten days, sometimes storing it in the lead investigator's car.
“It was in his vehicle which he was driving around and kept in a heated shed,” Bukowsky shared.
Smith's family says investigators also missed glaring red flags that suggest something else happened that night.
After the crash at the hospital, her parents said a nurse pulled them aside and told them they'd conducted a sexual assault exam because of suspicious bruising on Smith's body.
“There is no explanation for the pry marks on her inner thighs,” Bukowsky stated.
As she recovered, Smith also noticed thumb print bruises on his daughter's wrists.
Bukowsky says the injuries to Smith's cervix were from a sexual assault, not a crash. The attorney asked the lead investigator to explain those injuries in court.
"'What did you match the injuries to her cervix to?' He indicated he did not know what a cervix was and asked me to explain that to him during trial,” Bukowsky said.
“We just trusted and expected the patrol would do a thorough investigation. It really wasn't until the trial that we realized the extent of what was done or the lack of what was done,” Smith said.
Prosecutors argued they tested Smith for date rape drugs and found none in her system.
“We know that a lot of these date rape drugs clear your blood very quickly, within four hours,” Bukowsky shared.
Investigators also failed to find any semen. Court records show prosecutors called Smith's date rape defense, "a far-fetched scenario."
“Kelli doesn't have any memory for hours leading up to that crash. It wasn't her that saw suspicious injuries when she was unconscious in the hospital and they did a rape exam she didn't ask for this,” Bukowsky said.
"In closing arguments, I argued she had been raped twice, once by this unknown perpetrator and once by the system," Bukowsky stated.
Two families haunted by mysterious car accident that killed Missouri father
what kinda idiotic statement is that for HER lawyer to make? 
