Nurse Charged With Crash That Killed Six Won’t Testify in Her Own Defense

A traveling nurse who allegedly drove through a red light at 130 mph and caused a fiery crash that resulted in the deaths of six people, including an unborn baby, told a judge Monday that she will not testify in her own defense.

Nicole Linton, 41, told Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Eleanor J. Hunter outside the jury’s presence that she had freely and voluntarily made the decision not to testify during her trial after the defense finished its portion of the case.

Linton is charged with six counts of murder in the Aug. 4, 2022, crash at the intersection of La Brea and Slauson avenues.

Those killed included 23-year-old Asherey Ryan of Los Angeles, who relatives said was 8 1/2 months pregnant, along with her unborn child, who was to be named Armani Lester, her 11-month-old son Alonzo Quintero and her 23-year-old boyfriend, Reynold Lester of Los Angeles, who were in a Jaguar that was split “in half.”

Nathesia Lewis, 43, and her friend, 38-year-old Lynette Noble, who were in a Nissan, were also killed.

Authorities said nine other people, including Linton, were injured, with a total of nine vehicles involved in the collision and its aftermath.

The prosecution is set to begin presenting its rebuttal case Tuesday.

During the defense’s portion of the case, the downtown Los Angeles jury heard from a neurologist who testified that he believed Linton had “likely suffered a seizure.”

Under cross-examination, Dr. David Millett acknowledged that he was troubled early on about how she managed to navigate the road, but said he wasn’t aware then of a photo showing Linton with her arm out the driver’s side window that he said seemed consistent with a type of seizure that causes unconsciousness.

Firefighter/paramedic Richard Jimenez testified that he concluded that Linton was initially in an altered mental state after the crash and noticed that she repeatedly asked the same questions.

But he said he couldn’t diagnose whether she had a seizure that day.

The defense’s final witness, Kimberly Linton, told jurors that she spoke numerous times with her younger sister in the days and hours leading up to the crash, testifying that the things she had been discussing were unusual for her.

Kimberly Linton said her sister had told her that her co-workers were acting weird and that she couldn’t really explain what she meant.

During one call on WhatsApp the day of the crash, she said Linton popped into the video without any clothes on and then with a towel wrapped around herself without any explanation.

Kimberly Linton said her sister subsequently told her shortly before the crash to “get with the program” and “meet me at the altar,” adding that she had no knowledge of her sister planning to get married or even being in a relationship at the time.

During the prosecution’s portion of the case, jurors heard emotional testimony from people who witnessed the crash or its fiery aftermath.

Veronica Esquivel testified that she heard an “eerie sound” and knew something bad had happened, saying that “it surely sounded like people were dying.”

She described seeing a baby flying through the air before landing on the ground at the gas station with pieces of his clothing missing, adding that she screamed for someone to help her with the baby before she ran from the scene.

Tonya Boyd testified that she followed two people, including one of the employees, with the injured baby into the convenience store, and that she tried to perform CPR on the baby, but heard “like a gurgling sound” and felt like the baby “was not alive.”

“… The baby was not breathing,” the witness said, growing emotional as she was asked to look at a photo of the baby on the convenience store’s counter.

Through a Spanish interpreter, Edwin Servellon-Salazar said that he was at a gas station filling his work pickup truck when he heard the explosion and that he saw “the cars up in flames and the people who were already dead on the ground.” He said he began recording video on his cell phone of the scene.

California Highway Patrol investigator Hector Castaneda noted that 25 areas of impact were documented, including the victims being thrown from the Jaguar after it was struck and split in half.

A now-retired CHP employee who examined Linton’s vehicle after the crash said he didn’t find any pre-existing conditions to the vehicle that would have contributed to the crash. He noted that the vehicle was in “pretty bad shape” after the collision and sustained a lot of thermal damage from the fire that ensued.

A doctor who spoke with Linton a day after the crash said the woman initially didn’t seem to have much of a recollection what had happened, but then began to open up and tell her that her co-workers made her feel stupid and that she hated her job and had gotten into her car and left her job with the intention of quitting without telling anyone at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles.

She said Linton told her that she remembered waking up and feeling angry about people touching her asking if she was OK after the crash, and then feeling upset about seeing her car in flames because she had paid a lot of money for it.

Deputy Medical Examiner Vadims Poukens testified that the six victims all died from traumatic injuries, saying three suffered thermal injuries that occurred after they had already died.

In opening statements earlier this month, Deputy District Attorney Brittany Vannoy told jurors that Linton “chose to drive at 130 miles per hour” and “chose to drive through that red light … flooring it,” plowing her Mercedes-Benz into a the Jaguar containing the family that was heading to their final prenatal appointment and the Nissan containing two women who were going shopping.

Some of the victims’ family members rushed out of court as images were shown of the deadly crash, with the prosecutor explaining that Ryan’s unborn baby was “ripped from her womb” as a result of the high-speed crash.

Data from the defendant’s car showed that she was traveling at 122 mph five seconds before the crash and had reached 130 mph by the time of the first impact, without any braking or swerving, according to the prosecutor.

The deputy district attorney said the data showed that the woman’s steering was precise and that she was “able to navigate the roadway” and follow the curvature of the road and the lane lines in the moments leading up to the deadly collision.

Linton was frustrated with her job as a traveling nurse and left Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center that afternoon intending to quit, and “channeled that frustration” into her driving, Vannoy said.

The prosecutor told jurors that Linton had “never been diagnosed with a seizure disorder before” and that there was evidence that she was “faking a seizure” during subsequent testing after the crash.

Defense attorney Jovan Blacknell acknowledged that the crash was “tragic,” but said Linton being charged with the most serious crime of murder “is also a tragedy.”

He told jurors that she was not drunk, under the influence of drugs, on the phone at the time, rushing to get somewhere or racing, but was instead suffering from a “medical emergency” at the time of the “catastrophic car collision.”

Linton’s lawyer said she suffered a seizure at “probably the most inopportune time.”

The woman’s co-workers indicated later that she hadn’t been acting like herself that day, and her sister — who she talked with shortly before the crash — also noticed that something was off and called another of their sisters to talk with her about their conversation, Blacknell said.

Paramedics who responded to the crash scene found Linton dazed and confused, he said.

“It is certainly an emotional case,” he said, telling jurors that their biggest challenge will be to determine what Linton’s mental state was at the time.

During the first day of testimony, the judge sent jurors out of the courtroom after Linton gasped loudly when a gas station surveillance video was shown depicting the fireball that ensued after the crash.

“Ms. Linton, you’re going to have to control yourself,” the judge said. “We don’t want this based on emotion … Take a minute and compose yourself.”

Linton was initially charged with six counts of murder and five counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, but the less serious charges were dismissed after the prosecution announced at a hearing last month that it was not going to proceed with those counts, according to court records.

She was arrested by the California Highway Patrol on the day of the crash and remains behind bars without bail, jail records show.

On a website supporting Linton, one of her sisters, Camille, wrote that the crash “did not happen on purpose, but was a tragic accident.”

“… She is someone who we love dearly and right now, so many people see her as this monster and a murderer, when she is one of the most compassionate and caring people that we know,” the statement continued.