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Ohio Woman gets 18 years to life for dragging death

Posted at 3:54 PM, Mar 08, 2018
and last updated 2018-03-08 15:54:19-05

A judge on Thursday sentenced Briana Benson to 18 years to life in prison for the dragging death of 18-year-old Saint Ursula Academy alumnus Madie Hart last year.

A jury found Benson, 20, guilty on Feb. 14 of one count of murder, one count of felonious assault, one count of aggravated vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of an accident.

Benson plans to appeal her sentence.

Hart’s family members spoke before the sentencing.

“Now every holiday will be different,” Steve Hart, Madie’s father, said. “We didn’t lose somebody to disease, to cancer. We lost somebody to an accident my wife said should’ve never happened. It should have never happened.”

Prosecutors said Benson hit 18-year-old Hart with her car and dragged her about a block down Walnut Street on March 26, 2017. The incident was related to a dispute between Benson’s sister and Hart’s friend. Video from that night shows a brawl in the street before Benson hit Hart.

Hart died after four days in a coma.