DAYTON — A woman was killed in a hit-and-run more than three years ago. Today, the driver who left the scene learned she would not be going to prison.
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Runonya Chambers was hit and killed on E. Third Street in the early hours of New Year’s Day in 2022.
“I don’t think anyone deserves to die that way and be left alone,” Heather Letner, Chambers’ daughter, said.
Letner remembers her mom as a “fun-loving, caring, brutally honest” woman.
For years, she’s been giving her mom her all in pursuit of justice and for a memorial at the spot where she died.
“Everything I’ve went through the past three years, just fighting for her justice. It is hard, but I’m thankful to be here today,” Letner said.
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Over two years later, in February 2024, Christy Smith was charged with one count of failure to stop after an accident. She pleaded guilty to that charge the week before her trial was supposed to start last month.
As reported on News Center 7 at 5:00, Letner said she didn’t feel the charge truly reflected the tragedy. She was also frustrated that no one was charged directly for her mom’s death, but understood it based on the facts of the case and the state law.
Smith was in court on Friday to learn her sentence. There, she apologized to Chambers’ family.
“For them to know that I will forever be remorseful. I also will never forgive myself,” Smith said.
Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Judge Elizabeth Ellis said “there’s no sentence” that would bring Chambers back.
“If I could, I would do that,” Ellis said. “But I also have to follow the law.”
Ellis sentenced Smith to probation and an in-custody behavioral modification program for up to six months.
“I know that my mother is smiling down today because she finally got justice,” Letner said after sentencing.
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