The penalty a Warren County teen will pay after hitting and killing a pedestrian on U.S. 80 will be no more than the $677 she was fined after pleading guilty to a DUI first offense charge, officials said.

“Just because there is a DUI doesn’t mean someone will be charged with vehicular homicide,” said Cpl. Odis Easterling, a spokesman with the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol, which investigated the case.

Ashley Lynne King, 19, 3905 Warriors Trail, was eastbound on the two-lane highway near Deer Ridge Road at about 5 on the morning of Sept. 18 when her 2006 Nissan Sentra struck Anthony Sims, 40.

Sims was on the highway, either walking or standing, an accident reconstructionist later determined, and toxicology tests also showed him to have been drunk, Easterling said.

Mississippi law gives “right of way” to the motorist on a highway, meaning a driver would not necessarily be charged with causing the death of someone who was in the roadway.

King pleaded guilty to the first-offense DUI charge Oct. 31 in Justice Court before Judge Edwin Woods.

The conviction means she cannot be charged with any other crime related to the wreck because of laws against “double jeopardy,” said Warren County District Attorney Ricky Smith.

Smith said the MHSP did not ask his office to review the case for a possible manslaughter charge.

“We were unaware of the case because we never received a case file on Ashley King,” Smith said Wednesday. “Because of an inquiry we looked into the case and found it had been disposed of before it reached our office.”

Sims was pronounced dead at the scene by Warren County Coroner Doug Huskey, who said Sims suffered “massive head injury.”

A court document states that King’s blood alcohol level was .18 percent. Mississippi has a “zero-tolerance” level for anyone younger than 21, and offenders may be charged with drunk driving if their blood alcohol level exceeds .02 percent. The legal limit for adults over 21 is .08 percent.

No charges against King were filed immediately after the wreck. She was thrown from the car after it struck Sims and veered off the road and went down an embankment. King was not wearing a seat belt, officials said.

She was taken to River Region Medical Center and later flown to University Medical Center in Jackson, where she remained for several days and initially was listed in serious condition.

It was not clear when the MHSP filed the DUI against King.

Authorities were not sure why Sims, who was from Chicago and was staying with family in Vicksburg, was in the highway. He was not carrying identification but did have a cell phone, which was used to identify him and notify family members.