Missouri Gov. Mike Parson continues to face backlash after his controversial decision to commute the prison sentence of Britt Reid, a former Chiefs assistant coach and son of head coach Andy Reid.
Reid was convicted in a 2021 drunk driving crash that injured five people, including 5-year-old Ariel Young. He was sentenced to three years in prison in November 2022 after pleading guilty to driving while intoxicated. He had faced up to four years in prison as part of a plea deal. Before taking the guilty plea, he faced up to seven years in prison.
“How would the governor feel if this was his daughter?” said mother Felicia Miller.
“It seems the laws don’t apply equally to the haves and have nots,” she added. “The haves get favors. The have nots serve their sentence.”
Miller says she was not notified of the governor’s decision before it was made public.
Parson’s office announced on Friday that the governor had approved the commutation of Reid’s sentence, along with the sentences of two others. “Mr. Reid has completed his alcohol abuse treatment program and has served more prison time than most individuals convicted of similar offenses,” Parson’s office told ABC News.
Reid will be under house arrest until Oct. 31, 2025, “with strict conditions of probation, including weekly meetings with a parole officer, weekly behavioral counseling attendance, weekly meetings with a peer support sponsor and stringent community service and employment requirements,” the statement continued. “Additionally, Reid’s probation requires the installation of an ignition interlock system in any motor vehicle he operates.”
In response to the commutation, Tom Porto, an attorney for the victims of the crash, asked how Reid was different from any other criminal serving time in the state. “The family is disgusted, I am disgusted, and I believe… that the majority of the people in the state of Missouri are disgusted by the governor’s actions,” Porto said. “If you drink and drive and you put a little girl in a coma… you should have to serve the entire sentence that a judge of this state gave you.”
“What’s different between this criminal defendant and every other criminal defendant in the state of Missouri?”
Ariel Young, who was 5 years old at the time, was severely injured in the crash. She suffered “life-threatening injuries” and a “severe traumatic brain injury, a parietal fracture, brain contusions and subdural hematomas,” according to court documents.
The victims spoke out against the plea deal at the time and had hoped Reid would receive the maximum sentence. Her mother, Felicia Miller, said in a statement read at his sentencing hearing that he should never have been offered a plea deal and the victims are “offended” he asked for probation. “Ariel’s life is forever changed because of Britt Reid,” she said. “Her life will be dealing with the damage that Britt Reid did.”
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice
