Woman sentenced to 20 years, 12 to serve, in fatal Floyd County OWI

Apr. 19—NEW ALBANY — A Louisville woman who pleaded guilty in February to a fatal OWI that took the lives of two adults, a child and an unborn baby has been sentenced in Floyd County to 20 years — 12 to serve and eight on probation.

Taylor Barefoot, 32, was charged last April for the March 7, 2020 deaths of Taylor Cole, 21; Leah Onstott-Dunn, 22; Cole's 3-year-old son Braxton Fields and her unborn child. Onstott-Dunn's 3-year-old child was in the car but survived the crash.

In February, she pleaded guilty to three level 4 felonies for OWI causing death and a level 5 felony for involuntary manslaughter. She has been out on bond since the charges were filed, but at the close of the rare three-day sentencing in Floyd County Circuit Court Monday, was taken into police custody and will await transport to the Indiana Department of Correction.

Under Indiana sentencing guidelines, Barefoot must serve 75% of the sentence or nine years in prison. She has 30 days in which she could appeal the sentence.

"We're devastated with the sentencing," Carla McDonough, Cole's mother and Fields' grandmother, said at the close of the day. "Nine years...Braxton would barely even have been a teenager. Taylor would have just been 30 years old. She took their whole lives away from them and nine years is nothing. Justice wasn't served here today, not in our eyes anyway."

Testimony and evidence presented during the hearing showed that on March 7, Barefoot had been at a work party hosted by what was then called Sazerac Co. Inc., where she was an independent contractor. Surveillance footage from the party venue in downtown Jeffersonville showed Barefoot consume five mixed drinks within two hours and 15 minutes — the last three within 26 minutes — before leaving the party at 8:43 p.m.

The state believed she may have gotten lost and eventually entered the Interstate 65 south off ramp the wrong way at Lewis and Clark Parkway in Clarksville. She then traveled more than three miles in the wrong direction when at 9:17 p.m., she collided head-on with the other car around the 5-mile marker on Interstate 265, not far from the Charlestown Road exit in New Albany.

The three victims were transported to local hospitals and all pronounced dead within two hours of the crash. Barefoot was hospitalized for 13 days for injuries sustained during the crash and went to a women's addiction treatment center in Alabama for six months immediately after.

In court Monday, Barefoot had an opportunity to address the families who had lost loved ones in the crash for the first time since it happened.

"For the past year, I have been trying to think of what to say," she said, while crying. "I can't explain how sorry I am. I have physically wanted to crawl out of my skin since this has happened...I know what is lost. I am a mother."

Barefoot called herself a "highly functioning alcoholic" and acknowledged that her decisions led to the deaths.

"I chose to drink...at the party and while impaired, I chose to drive," she said, adding that she does not intend to ever drink again for the rest of her life and that she will work at helping others in recovery "because that is the only way I can honor them."

McDonough said after the hearing that these words still can't bring her family back.

"I know she's sorry," McDonough said. "She didn't set out to kill my family, but she did. And I don't want to feel sorry for her because all the sorry I have is for the families left behind. I know she didn't do it intentionally but we're still left with them not here."

Onstott-Dunn's grandmother was also among the six, including the defendant, to give statements Monday.

"Leah was the light in our life, such a beautiful girl," the woman said. She said Ontott-Dunn's son, who was in the car and conscious during the crash, asks "'will I ever have a mom?' What do you say to that?"

To Barefoot, she said, "My heart really does go out to you. I know that wasn't your intention that night but here we are."

Barefoot's plea was capped at 28 years, which is what Floyd County Prosecutor Chris Lane asked Judge Terrence Cody to find as the sentence. Defense attorney Patrick Renn asked the judge to consider other options — with her strong work ethic, good education and no criminal history, he said she was a person who would likely do well in a probationary program with addiction treatment included rather than a full sentence served in prison.

A pre-sentence investigation also indicated Barefoot as low risk to reoffend.

After the first two days of sentencing April 8 and 9, Judge Cody spent time going over evidence and arguments brought by both sides. After closing arguments Monday he took about 45 minutes to render a decision.

"By all accounts, Mrs. Barefoot is a good person," Cody said. "But she made a bad decision to drive in an intoxicated state."

On his decision to have the sentence for each count run consecutive instead of concurrent, "there were three lives lost," he said. "Each was an individual and I cannot ignore that."

Following the sentencing, Lane said he had hoped for the longer 28-year sentence.

"I fought for the maximum available sentence in this case — 28 years executed," he said. "The court rendered a decision today that was different from our recommendation. We are and I am disappointed with that decision.

"The defendant was driving under the influence of alcohol, traveled the wrong way on the interstate and caused a head-on collision that took the lives of three people including a child. I respect and understand the process, respect the authority of the judge to do this, respect the defense's arguments. We disagree."

A message left for defense attorney Renn after the sentencing was not returned Monday afternoon.