{"id":109270,"date":"2025-08-01T03:52:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T03:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/109270\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T03:52:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T03:52:11","slug":"victims-fiancee-decries-plea-deal-in-fatal-dui-crash-in-phoenix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/109270\/","title":{"rendered":"Victim’s fianc\u00e9e decries plea deal in fatal DUI crash in Phoenix"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

PHOENIX<\/strong> – Leo Kelly, a 23-year-old described as an old soul with big dreams, was killed on March 3, 2024, when he was hit by a drunk driver in Phoenix.<\/p>\n

What we know:<\/p>\n

More than a year later, his fianc\u00e9e, Kaylynn Dawe, is speaking out against a plea deal offered to the man accused in his death, saying it’s not enough.<\/p>\n

“Leo was a very giving, a loving person. He was very quick to help anybody that needed help. We rescued a lot of animals,” Dawe said. “He was my soulmate and was going to be the father of my children.”<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Photos: Leo Kelly (left & right) Leo Kelly & Kaylynn Dawe (center) <\/p>\n

According to Phoenix Police, 25-year-old Griffin Kjar was driving at least 77 mph when he ran a red light at Happy Valley Road and 23rd Avenue<\/strong><\/a>, hitting and killing Kelly.<\/p>\n

Dawe, who was engaged to Kelly, said the plea deal offers Kjar a sentence of six to eight years for manslaughter and reckless endangerment. She believes the punishment doesn’t fit the crime.<\/p>\n

“We do not want to be greedy by asking for homicide,” Dawe said. “How will I be greedy for wanting justice for Leo?”<\/p>\n

Dig deeper:<\/p>\n

Dawe says the loss has turned her world upside down, and she is frustrated by the perceived lack of accountability for Kjar.<\/p>\n

“When he finally got arrested, they asked if he had adequate time with his family to say goodbye,” Dawe said. “I don’t see me having adequate time with Leo.”<\/p>\n

She feels a short prison sentence can’t compare to the lifetime of grief she and Kelly’s family face.<\/p>\n

“We’re expected to live the rest of our lives grieving him,” she said, “while Griffin is going to get out in seven years and live an entirely full life.”<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

What’s next:<\/p>\n

All sides reached a plea agreement, and Kjar will be sentenced next week.<\/p>\n

Map of the area where the crash happened<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Crime and Public Safety<\/a>Phoenix<\/a>News<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX – Leo Kelly, a 23-year-old described as an old soul with big dreams, was killed on March…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":109271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,6082,1588,50,1589,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-109270","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-az","11":"tag-crime-publicsafety","12":"tag-maricopa-county","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-phoenix","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114951483972970820","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}