Crime & Safety

Driver Gets 20 Years in Prison in Crash That Killed Cartersville Women, Infant, Unborn Child

He pleaded guilty without negotiating with prosecutors and was sentenced to 40 years, 20 of which he is set to serve on probation.

A Calhoun man has pleaded guilty in a Christmas Day crash that killed two Cartersville women, a 27-day-old infant and an unborn child.

Brent Leighton Lynch, who was 35 years old at the time of the crash, didn't negotiated with prosecutors before pleading guilty Thursday, the Calhoun Times reports. He was sentenced to 40 years, 20 of which he was ordered to serve in prison.

The two-vehicle, Dec. 25, 2012, collision happened at 5:47 p.m. on Georgia Highway 53 near Mauldin in Gordon County. Georgia State Patrol authorities after an investigation by the Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team charged Lynch with:

  • Three counts of first degree vehicular homicide,
  • One count of feticide by vehicle,
  • Two counts of serious injury by vehicle,
  • DUI,
  • Driving on the wrong side of the road and
  • Failing to maintain his lane.

The crash killed April Nacoale Winters, 40, and two passengers in her vehicle—Tanika Latrice Ackies, 21, of Cartersville, and 27-day-old Niyla Raine Ackies, also of Cartersville.

Winters' grandson, Dearious Jakelous Gardner, also died as a result of the crash, according to her obituary.

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The 1996 Ford Bronco Lynch was driving was traveling eastbound on Highway 53 when it ran off the road on the right side, re-entered the roadway and struck head on the 2006 Kia Spectra driven by Winters, according to the GSP. 

Alexis Gardner, then 20, and Ratanza Winters, also 20 years old at the time, both of Cartersville and passengers in the Kia, were injured and taken to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, TN, for treatment.

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Lynch and a passenger in his vehicle, Crystal Lynch, then 35, of Calhoun, also were injured and taken to Erlanger.

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