MILWAUKEE, WI - There are some prison sentences which are obscenely inadequate. Such is the case for Donald Crayton, 33, who was sentenced to only 20 years in prison for the depraved killing of his girlfriend’s 4-year-old daughter while the pair walked to get pizza on April 30, 2024.
On that date, Gloria Hymes, 27, and her daughter, Zekani Hymes-Wilson were crossing the street to pick up food at a local Domino’s Pizza near their apartment.
Disturbing surveillance video showed the moment when Crayton’s black Chevy Impala slammed into Hymes and her daughter at a high rate of speed, sending both flying into the air before they landed on the street, Law & Crime reports.
Crayton was identified as the driver of the Impala. Hymes was his live-in girlfriend at the time of the hit-and-run. After striking the pair, Crayton and a woman later identified as his sister parked in a parking lot and ran back toward the injured mother and daughter. After around a minute, Crayton ran back to his car and drove off, leaving the fatally injured child and her mother in the street.
A responding police officer attempted to revive Zekani; however, his efforts failed and she was declared dead at the scene.
Crayton’s sister remained behind and accompanied Hymes in the ambulance to a local hospital. When investigators spoke to Hymes at the hospital, she positively identified Crayton as the driver of the car and told them he was her current boyfriend and he was the owner of the Impala. As a result of the crash, Hymes suffered serious injuries, including multiple fractures to her right leg.
After fleeing the scene, Crayton abandoned his car near some railroad tracks. Later that day, Crayton was spotted in a car with 23-year-old Adriana Merkel, who led police on a high speed pursuit before ultimately crashing. Despite trying to flee on foot, Crayton was apprehended by police and taken into custody.
Merkel, who ultimately pleaded guilty to eluding a police officer, told police that Crayton told her “he couldn’t live with this on his conscience,” but did not tell her about the hit-and-run. All Crayton told her was that he needed to “leave” after his car was found by police. Merkel told police that Crayton was her boyfriend.
Police said that after they took Crayton into custody, he was “crying uncontrollably” and asked to “go to the psych ward.”
During his sentencing hearing last week, Crayton’s driving record was brought up and police said he “has never been issued a driver’s license.” The killing of the little girl wasn’t his first killing involving a car; in 2019 he was convicted of killing another person while driving. Yet, five years later, he was out on the streets and able to do it all over again.
Crayton has twice been convicted of operating a vehicle without a license in 2017 and 2023. For the 2019 conviction, he served only 10 months in jail and three years of probation…for killing someone with his car.
In the latest case, Crayton pleaded guilty to hit-and-run involving death, hit-and-run involving great bodily harm, and reckless homicide. Crayton was also charged with knowingly operating a motor vehicle while suspended causing death, knowingly operating a vehicle while suspended causing great bodily harm, resisting or obstructing an officer, and soliciting someone to flee an officer in a vehicle. The latter charges were all dismissed, but were read into the record during sentencing.
Just as he did after the 2019 killing with a motor vehicle, Crayton again expressed remorse for the little girl’s death and his girlfriend’s injuries in the latest incident. However, Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge Laura Crivello wasn’t buying it, reminding him he made the same comments after the 2019 conviction.
Crivello said, “[I]t doesn’t ring so true when you say it on a previous date and don’t change your behavior…I don’t know if I buy the remorse.”
In addition to the 20 year sentence, Crayton has been ordered to never drive again.
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