GASTONIA, NC (WBTV) -
A Gaston County woman previously found guilty of second degree murder after investigators said she ran over and killed a man while driving drunk pled to a lesser charged Thursday.
The original conviction was thrown out by the N.C. Court of Appeals and a retrial ordered after the court said investigators used insufficient evidence to try Davis.
Charla Davis pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 26 to 52 months in prison with a credit of five months time served, according to her attorney.
After that sentence is served Davis will be placed on supervised probation for assault inflicting serious bodily injury.
She also plead to driving while license revoked and is credited with time served. Davis is now in the custody of the state to begin serving her sentence.
Gaston County District Attorney Locke Bell says "it was necessary and very important that Charla Davis be convicted of killing Mr. Eudy".
Charla Davis struck Ronnie Eudy with her car in 2008.
Eudy stopped his big rig to help another driver who was suffering from a medical condition. Davis injured three other people in the accident, including the man with the medical condition.
Eudy died at the scene of the accident.
Police said Davis had been drinking prior to the accident on August 7, 2008.
In 2009, a Gaston County jury found Davis guilty of second-degree murder, DWI, reckless driving, driving with a revoked license, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, and 2 counts of felony hit and run causing death.
But the state Court of Appeals ordered a retrial in 2010 because prosecutors used an odor analysis of her breath to determine she was intoxicated. The court said that was insufficient evidence.
District Attorney Bell says "considering what evidence I had left that I could present to a jury, I'm satisfied" with the plea agreement. He says "if we had gone to trial and on a weakened case and had lost - she would have been able to go out and laugh and say ha ha. And I could not allow that to happen to the widow".
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