NKyTribune staff
Jessica Hood has pleaded guilty to three counts of Manslaughter in the Second Degree in an accident on Weaver Road in Boone County in March of 2015.
Charles Napier and his twin grandchildren, Sean and Samantha May, in a photo taken just moments before all three were struck and killed on Weaver Road by a car driven by Jessica Hood in March 2015. Hood pleaded guilty to three counts of Manslaughter, 2nd degree Wednesday and will be sentenced April 16 (photo courtesy of the Boone Commonwealth Attorney Facebook page).
The plea comes almost three years to the day of the March 15, 2015 accident that claimed the lives of three people, including two toddlers, and injured two others.
Charles Napier 49 and his twin grandchildren, Sean and Samantha May, 13 months, were killed instantly. Napier’s daughter Susan Elam, 28, and grandson Ethan May, 3, were injured in the accident.
On the day of the incident, investigators say Napier and Elam were pulling the three small children in wagons on Weaver Road.
They were headed southbound in the northbound lane after returning from lunch at Gramma’s Pizza on US 42, when police say a Chevrolet Malibu driven by Hood, left the road, went onto the shoulder and struck the family.
Hood was 22 years old at the time of the accident.
Investigators had speculated early in the investigation that Hood was using her cellular phone and was distracted at the time of the accident.
At several pretrial hearings, Hood, through her attorney Daniel Dickerson, maintained that she was not using her cell phone at the time of the crash.
Prosecutors were prepared to call an expert in cellular technology to dispute that claim and in her guilty plea Wednesday, Hood finally acknowledged that she became distracted while using the device.
According to a joint statement released by Boone Commonwealth Attorney and the Florence Police Chief, Hood told the Court that she was distracted because she was looking at her phone, attempting to plug in her auxiliary cord and change the music from a CD to her phone. The accident reconstruction revealed that she traveled a distance of almost 1,000 feet in 14 to 16 seconds, during which time she never perceived the pedestrians.
The plea agreement saves the families of all involved the pain of a public trial that was expected to include photos from the accident scene and graphic testimony.
Hood will be formally sentenced on Monday, April 16, at 1:30 p.m.
Jessica Hood leaves a pretrial hearing late last year. Hood repeatedly denied being distracted while using her cell phone in an accident on Weaver Road that killed Charles Napier and two of his grandchildren in 2015. Wednesday, Hood finally admitted that she was distracted while trying to use the device at the time of the accident (file photo).
The statement from Boone Commonwealth Attorney Linda Tally Smith and Florence Police Chief John McDermond regarding the events that led up to Hood’s guilty plea Wednesday:
On March 15, 2015, at approximately 12:23 p.m., Florence Police officers responded to a horrific scene on Weaver Road in Florence, Boone County, Kentucky, where it was discovered that a 2003 Chevrolet Malibu inexplicably left the straight stretch of roadway, hitting a group of six pedestrians, killing three and injuring two others. At the scene, the driver indicated that she never saw the pedestrians and believed that she had hit a sign. She could offer no explanation for her vehicle leaving the roadway and repeatedly denied using her cell phone at the time she struck the pedestrians. However, an exhaustive accident reconstruction and investigation by the Florence Police Accident Reconstruction Team resulted in criminal charges against the operator of the vehicle, Jessica L. Hood of Erlanger, Kentucky by the Boone County Grand Jury on December 15, 2015. The Boone County Sheriff’s Department and FBI’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team assisted in gathering cell phone data evidence.
Defendant Jessica L. Hood wantonly operated her vehicle in a distracted manner, leaving the roadway by almost the full width of her car and striking a group of pedestrians lawfully walking along Weaver Road in Florence. As a result of her wanton conduct, Charles Napier (age 49), and his twin grandchildren, Sean and Samantha May (13 mos.) were killed instantly; and his daughter Susan Elam (age 28), and grandson Ethan May (age 3), suffered physical injuries. Neither the sixth pedestrian, Ms. Hood, nor any of her three passengers were injured.
On Wednesday, March 14, 2018, Jessica L. Hood entered a guilty plea to three counts of Manslaughter in the Second Degree and two counts of Assault in the Fourth Degree. At the time of her plea, she told the Court that she was distracted because she was looking at her phone, attempting to plug in her auxiliary cord and change the music from a CD to her phone. The accident reconstruction revealed that she traveled a distance of almost 1,000 feet in 14 to 16 seconds, during which time she never perceived the pedestrians.
Miss Hood will be formally sentenced on Monday, April 16, 2018 at 1:30 p.m. The plea came almost three years to the day that the offenses were committed.
