“I could give Mr. Kane 150 years, and it wouldn’t ease the pain or help in that regard,” Circuit Court Judge Karen Abrams said Sept. 16, moments before sentencing Corey Jermaine Kane for a drunk-driving crash that killed two women on Charles Street in La Plata last year. “There is no justice that can make up for what happened to the families.”
Kane, 46, of District Heights, was sentenced to 20 years in prison with all but 15 suspended, followed by five years of supervised probation, Charles County State’s Attorney Tony Covington announced. The sentence effectively matches the maximum exposure Kane faced: Maryland’s manslaughter-by-vehicle statute caps a first offense at up to 10 years per count, and Kane pleaded guilty in April to two counts — one for each woman he killed — putting his total exposure at 20 years. Abrams suspended a third of that, meaning Kane will serve 15 years before beginning probation.
Dionee Monae Tyree, 29, of Washington, D.C., and Teenona Shavon Huggins, 31, of Seat Pleasant, Maryland, died at the scene of the July 26, 2025, crash, according to the Chronicle’s prior reporting. Tyree’s obituary and a fundraiser set up in her name describe an 8-year-old son, Bryson, whom the family called “her entire world.” A third woman, also 31 and from D.C., survived after being airlifted from the scene.
The crash happened around 7:19 p.m. in the 9900 block of Charles Street. Investigators determined Kane was driving westbound and crossed the center line while attempting to pass other vehicles in a designated passing zone where conditions made it unsafe to do so. Tyree’s Mercury Grand Marquis was traveling eastbound in its own lane when Kane’s Infiniti struck it head-on. La Plata Volunteer Fire Department and Charles County Department of Emergency Medical Services extricated the surviving passenger from the wreckage.
At the scene, Kane showed signs of impairment and agreed to standardized field sobriety tests, which he completed unsatisfactorily. His blood alcohol concentration was later measured at 0.21 — more than 2.5 times Maryland’s legal limit of 0.08. Investigators concluded both speed and alcohol were factors in the crash. Public court and news records reviewed by the Chronicle turned up no prior criminal record for Kane; available reporting on the case does not describe him making a statement or apology to the court at sentencing.
Assistant State’s Attorney John Stackhouse told the court the harm extended well past the two women who died.
“This case has generational impacts and has caused generational trauma,” Stackhouse said. “Grandparents lost grandchildren. Parents lost children. And the victims’ children lost their parents.”
Assistant State’s Attorney Chloe Dopico added: “Three family’s lives have been turned upside down over the defendant’s choices to drive under the influence. We cannot accept this in our community.”
Kane pleaded guilty to all charges in the indictment on April 24, avoiding a trial on the two manslaughter counts.
