UGA student makes victim’s mental health an issue in vehicular homicide case
- Classic City News
- Aug 3, 2025
- 2 min read
By Joe Johnson
A University of Georgia student who is facing a vehicular homicide charge for killing a pedestrian while allegedly driving drunk is casting blame on the victim for his own death.
Michael Jerrell Kitchen, 34, was fatally struck by a car on West Broad Street early the morning of April 30, 2024.
The driver, 22-year-old UGA student Benhur Tesfai, never stopped and upon arriving home called police to report having possibly struck a deer and said he left the scene because he was scared.
When officers interviewed him Tesfai reportedly had on his breath a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage and he admitted to having drank lemon drop shots at a nightclub downtown.
Tesfai was arrested for “DUI less safe,” a designation for when in the officer’s judgment alcohol consumption was a factor when he struck Kitchens.
He subsequently took a breathalyzer test, which police said indicated a blood-alcohol content of .079 percent, slightly below the legal threshold.
That percentage would have been higher at the time of the incident, according to the arresting officer.
A grand jury in June indicted Tesfai for first-degree homicide by vehicle, reckless driving, hit and run, and driving under the influence of alcohol, He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Recent court filings show that the student is placing blame on Tesfai for his death.
Defendant’s motion to admit extrinsic acts evidence of victim notes that Kitchens was wearing dark clothing and walking in the center turn lane of where there were no street lights.
Surveillance camera footage from nearby Beech Haven Church shows him crossing the road when he was struck.
The defense motion also refers to documented instances of officers having prior contact with Kitchens for illegal use of a highway as a pedestrian.
“In video encounters with officers, Kitchens appears either to not comprehend the peril he places himself in by walking in a busy road, or he does not care about the danger.”
The motion further states that it “appears in the weeks leading up to his death, he was experienced a severe mania.”
Tesfai “has the legitimate right to explore whether Kitchens was only trying to cross the (road). or whether he was simply walking aimlessly in the highway with with either no awareness, or no regard, for the danger,” defense attorney David Crowe argues in the motion.
“These two incidents show Kitchens had a penchant to walk in the roadway with seemingly little awareness of the dangers,”
Crowe has also asked the judge to conduct an in-camera review of mental health records of the victim to determine what can be disclosed and used as evidence.
The toxicology report from the autopsy performed on Kitchens has yet to be disclosed but it’s highly relevant “as are whatever mental health medications he was prescribed at the time of his death,” the defense attorney states in his motion.
