Nicole Linton, a former traveling nurse who drove her Mercedes through a red light at about 130 mph and killed six people in Los Angeles, has been found guilty of murder. Jurors returned the verdict on Friday, October 2, after about three hours of talks, rejecting her claim that a seizure took the wheel out of her hands.
Story Highlights
- Linton, 41, was convicted of six counts of second-degree murder for the 2022 Windsor Hills crash.
- Prosecutors said the car’s own data showed the gas pedal pressed to the floor for at least five seconds, with no braking and no swerving.
- Her lawyer argued she had a sudden seizure and did not know what was happening.
- She is held without bail and faces up to life in prison at sentencing on December 1.
What The Jury Decided And Why
The jury found Linton guilty on every count: six counts of second-degree murder, which in California means a killing that was not planned ahead but was done with clear disregard for human life. The reason comes down to one question the jurors had to answer. Was she awake and in control, or was she not? Prosecutors said the car answered it. They told jurors she pressed the gas pedal all the way down for at least five seconds before impact, on a street with a 35 mph limit, and never braked or swerved. The light had been red for 15 seconds.
The crash happened at about 1:40 p.m. on August 4, 2022, at La Brea and Slauson avenues in Windsor Hills, a neighborhood in South Los Angeles. Her car hit several others and set off a fire. Prosecutors said Linton had left her nursing shift at a West Los Angeles hospital partway through and took her anger out behind the wheel. “She chose to do this,” Deputy District Attorney Antonella Nistorescu told the jury, calling the crash entirely preventable.
The Six Who Died
Asherey Ryan, 23, was eight and a half months pregnant. She died along with her unborn son, Armani, her 11-month-old son, Alonzo Quintero, and her boyfriend, Reynold Lester. Nathesia Lewis, 43, and Lynette Noble, 38, were also killed. Several other people were hurt, and Linton herself was injured.
Ryan’s sister, Sha’seana Kerr, spoke after the verdict. “I’m so happy that God has given us justice,” she said. She added that the family will “still be prisoners in grief, because grief doesn’t end.”
The Defense’s Medical Emergency Claim
Linton’s attorney, Jovan Blacknell, said she suffered a sudden seizure and was not conscious, so she could not have meant to do anything. A neurologist, a doctor who treats the brain and nerves, testified for the defense that she likely had a seizure. The defense also said she was in a mental health crisis that day, and pointed out there was no evidence she was drunk, on drugs, racing, or on her phone. Linton did not testify.
Prosecutors answered that she kept the car steady and on course while it gained speed, which a person who has passed out cannot do. “She was conscious that entire time,” a prosecutor told jurors. The quick verdict shows the jury believed the car’s data over the defense’s medical expert.
How California Law Treats Deadly Driving
California lets prosecutors charge murder in the worst driving deaths under a rule called “implied malice.” It means the driver did not set out to kill anyone but knew the driving could kill and did it anyway. The rule comes from People v. Watson, a 1981 California Supreme Court case about a deadly drunk-driving crash. Prosecutors had first charged Linton with vehicular manslaughter as well, a lesser crime, but dropped those counts before trial and asked the jury for murder alone.
What stands out here is that the state did not need alcohol, drugs, or a police chase to make its case. Speed and a red light were enough. “The jury agreed that this was no accident,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said. “Nicole Linton murdered six people when she deliberately put her foot on the gas and accelerated up to 130 mph through a red light.”
What Comes Next
Linton remains in jail without bail. Sentencing is set for Tuesday, December 1, in Los Angeles. She faces up to life in prison, and the district attorney’s office said it expects more than one life sentence. For the families, who waited four years for this trial, the verdict settles the question that mattered most to them: a jury has ruled the crash was a choice, not an accident.
Sources:
mynewsla.com, foxla.com, nypost.com, latimes.com, oxygen.com, nbclosangeles.com