AURORA | An Ararpahoe County jury has convicted a 31-year-old man of vehicular homicide in a high-speed crash that killed a 71-year-old woman and severely injured her husband last year in Aurora.
Prosecutors said Taylor Marcus Douglas was driving nearly 100 mph just moments before he slammed into the couple’s SUV April 15, 2024, at South Chambers Road and East Center Avenue.
The couple had just left a dialysis center and was turning onto South Chambers Road when their vehicle was t-boned by Douglas during the collision, police reported.
Douglas initially told investigators he had been traveling about 55 mph when the SUV turned in front of him. But witnesses reported the black Nissan Altima he drove weaving through traffic and speeding, with one estimating it was going more than 60 mph in a 40 mph zone.
Data pulled from the car’s electronic recorder revealed Douglas was going 98 mph three seconds before impact, and accident reconstruction estimated his speed at 73 mph at the moment of the collision, prosecutors said.
Douglas was convicted of vehicular homicide, a Class 4 felony, and reckless driving, a Class 2 traffic offense.
“This tragedy was entirely preventable,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Brian Eckhardt said in a statement. He said that Douglas’s driving “cost an innocent woman her life and left her husband with devastating injuries.”
Douglas is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 16, 2026. Under state law, he faces up to six years in prison.
District Attorney Amy Padden said she supports state lawmakers increasing penalties for vehicular homicide, calling for reforms to ensure “greater accountability and justice.”
Anyone knowhy Taylor Marcus Douglas was in such a hurry?
Only 6 years in prison for killing someone and maiming another?