Man pleads guilty in fatal crash
Published 11:47 pm Friday, November 20, 2015
A Windsor man pleaded guilty Friday to five crimes related to a Feb. 10 crash on Whaleyville Boulevard that killed a mother and daughter.
Wesley Aaron Johns, 26, pleaded guilty to two counts of involuntary manslaughter, one count of possession of heroin, one count of possessing a firearm with drugs and one count of texting while driving. Judge L. Wayne Farmer accepted the plea in Suffolk Circuit Court.
The head-on crash killed Teresa Brooks Brown, 60, and Bernice Pong Brooks, 84, both of Colerain, N.C. Brown was driving a PT Cruiser, with her mother riding along, while Johns was driving a minivan.
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney George Bruch said Johns had the heroin and firearm in his vehicle at the time of the crash.
According to evidence from his phone, Johns opened a text message at 33 seconds past 8:04 a.m. that Tuesday, Bruch said. The crash was reported at 8:05 after Johns drifted into the lane of oncoming traffic.
His phone was found embedded in the dashboard directly in front of the driver’s seat, Bruch added.
Sentencing is set for March 7.