Woman pleads guilty to fatally striking ex-husband with car, sentenced to 8 years in prison

Cynthia Perry was sentenced Monday, Oct. 7, to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to striking her ex-husband with a car, leaving him with fatal injuries.

Perry, 45, of Frohna faced charges of domestic assault before it was updated to first-degree involuntary manslaughter after her ex-husband, John David Perry, died of injuries relating to being struck by the car in November. According to prior Southeast Missourian reporting, Perry was also at the center of a stabbing death in 2011.

"In 2011, Cynthia Perry was at the center of the stabbing death of a man named Walter Claar, who she was dating at the time," the Southeast Missourian article states. "The document explained that the man who stabbed Claar was the boyfriend of Cynthia Perry's (then Ussery's) daughter. (Then-Cape Girardeau County Prosecutor Morley) did not press charges on the grounds that the stabbing was protected by Missouri's 'Castle Doctrine'."

According to a judgment and sentencing document, Perry was sentenced to eight years in the Missouri Department of Corrections on the charge of involuntary manslaughter. The document states Perry will receive a credit of 314 days toward her sentence because of her time in custody before she was sentenced.

Perry's guilty plea document states she did strike her ex-husband, John David Perry, with her vehicle, operated the car recklessly, failed to "keep a look out" and failed to check her surroundings.

Attorney Michael Remley represented Perry in the case and Judge Scott Lipke presided over her sentencing.