Jackson sentenced in DUI death of Holmes County native

The driver responsible for the 2022 death of 18-year-old Corey Reynolds was sentenced on April 19 in a Holmes County courtroom.

Melisa Dawn Jackson, 42, of Alford, pled guilty to vehicular manslaughter-DUI causing death to human or unborn child, and DUI with property damage. 

On June 3, Reynolds was changing a flat tire while working on a roadside service truck crew and was struck and killed on the shoulder of Interstate 10.

Reynolds was standing behind his 2012 Dodge roadside service truck near mile marker 110 assisting with a flat tire on a truck that was pulling a boat.

Jackson was driving a 2012 white Hyundai traveling west on the inside lane and traveled off the roadway and onto the rumble strips. Jackson then oversteered the car back onto the roadway where it began to rotate as it traveled across both westbound lanes of the interstate and into the emergency lane. Jackson’s car then collided with the rear of the pick-up truck, killing Reynolds.

Circuit Judge Russell Roberts handed down a sentence of 10 years in the Florida Department of Corrections with a minimum mandatory four years, five years probation, a permanently suspended driver’s license, and Jackson cannot possess or consume alcohol.