Dustin Watkins, 28, was sentenced to three years in prison Tuesday for his role in the dragging death of a Middletown woman this summer.

Watkins, of Middletown, was driving the SUV that drug 28-year-old Christina Dunn to her death on June 17, according to police. He pleaded guilty last month to one count of failure to stop after an accident.

Maria Misquez, a passenger in Watkins’ SUV, pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of obstructing justice. Misquez, 32, will be sentenced Nov. 27 and could face two years in prison.

During Watkins’ sentencing hearing Tuesday in Butler County Common Pleas Court, his defense attorney, David Brewer, claimed the deadly encounter was the result of a drug deal gone bad and not an argument over a painting job as previously reported by Dunn’s husband, Michael, who is a self-employed painter.

“It’s everybody’s participation and everybody shares in the responsibility for what happened to that lady…,” Brewer told Judge Keith Spaeth. “When you play with fire you’re going to get burned and I think that’s what happened here.”

Watkins told Spaeth he was there to sell Michael Dunn pain pills and heroin and that Christina came running out of the house to stop the transaction. Watkins said she reached into his vehicle, threw the pills back and was trying to retrieve their $150 rent money when he panicked and took off.

Spaeth asked Watkins if he dragged the woman 40 feet and ran over her, as was reported. Watkins said the door on the SUV was open and the woman was knocked over, but not dragged or driven over.

Spaeth, who normally does not question people in the audience or family members prior to sentencing, made an exception Tuesday in an effort to learn what really happened to Dunn on June 17.

The judge told Michael Dunn, who was in the gallery, to stand and asked him about his wife’s drug use. He said his wife used only what was prescribed for her by her doctor. Spaeth asked him why Christina came outside that day, and Dunn responded that his wife didn’t like him buying drugs.

Dunn’s mother Loretta Purdin-Morgan spoke to the judge, saying she saw her daughter — who spent 12 hours brain dead on a ventilator at the hospital because she didn’t have a living will — and there were marks all up and down her left side and the back of her skull was “squished.” She also said her 9-year-old grand daughter witnessed the event from the house and heard her mother repeatedly “hollering” for Watkins to stop.

Purdin-Morgan asked Spaeth to throw the book at Watkins.

“He is a menace to society and he is a threat to individuals out on the street,” she said, tearfully.

Spaeth said he didn’t buy Watkins’ version of the events and also took into account Watkins has been to prison three times before.

“By all accounts that I’ve heard, an innocent person lost her life,” Spaeth said. “By all accounts that I have heard and read, you were aware that this woman was being drug, you were aware of her presence… None of the circumstances decrease the seriousness of your actions.”

Purdin-Morgan said the holidays will be extremely hard without her daughter, but she took solace in the sentence.

“I am thankful he got the maximum three years for his role in my daughter’s death,” she said. “I am thankful he’s not out hurting anyone else.”