Maserati Driver Who Killed St. Louis Man Gets 120-Day Sentence

Prosecutors wanted Mahdi Gayar to do three to seven years in prison

Mar 5, 2024 at 1:53 pm

Mahdi Gayar was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter last November. COURTESY SLMPD

A 23-year-old who killed a 62-year-old man in south city while speeding in his Maserati was sentenced to 120 days of shock time in prison.

At the end of those 120 days, the Missouri Department of Corrections will make a recommendation to the court in St. Louis if Mahdi Gayar should serve a full four-year sentence.

The crash took place in December 2017, when Gayar was 17. The south county resident was behind the wheel of a Maserati, going twice the speed limit on Gravois Avenue, just south of Holly Hills Avenue, when he caused a crash that killed Daniel Domian. A jury found Gayar guilty of involuntary manslaughter last November.

The sentencing of Gayar this afternoon played out against the backdrop of other recent deaths and injuries caused by reckless driving in the city — the trial of Daniel Riley in particular, which is happening across the street and was referenced several times in court. Riley is accused of causing the February 2023 collision that cost visiting volleyball player Janae Edmondson the use of her legs.

"I don't usually make send-a-message type arguments, but in this case I am going to make one," said prosecutor Jeff Estes, referencing both Edmondson as well as the Chicago mother and daughter who were killed recently by a speeding driver after the Drake concert. "I think that the court can send a message that we're not going to tolerate that."

In his comments to the court, Domian's brother, Dave, also referenced the Riley case. "If it doesn't start now, somebody has got to do something," he said.

Prosecutors asked that Gayar serve three to seven years in prison. Gayar's attorney, Travis Noble, asked that Gayar get probation. Noble stressed to St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Clinton R. Wright that he would be sentencing a 24-year-old for actions committed when he was 17.

Addressing the court himself, Gayar said that he took responsibility for his actions. "I caused the death of an innocent man," Gayar said, adding that as his case worked its way through the system over the past six years, he found himself agreeing more and more with the picture prosecutors painted of him.

Daniel Domian's wife, Pam, spoke prior to Wright handing down the sentence. She looked directly at Gayar when she said, "You have no idea young man how much I hate you and how horrible you've made my life."

Gayar will have to turn himself in for his four months of imprisonment at 10 a.m. Friday. Wright was appointed to the bench by then-Governor Eric Greitens in 2018.