Tennessee Woman Sentenced to 40 Years for DUI Crash That Killed 13-year-old
Brittany Norris of Tennessee will spend the next 40 years of her life in jail for her part in a drunk driving accident in 2021 that killed a 13-year-old boy and hurt the boy’s mother and sister permanently. On August 6, John Weddle of the First Circuit District Attorney’s Office posted on Facebook that the term would last for decades.
The event took place in Mississippi, but Norris, 36, is from Counce, Tennessee. While Norris was drunk, she was driving her car on Mississippi’s Highway 365 in Tishomingo County on September 20, 2021, when she almost hit her victim’s car head-on.
She said she was guilty of three counts of severe DUI.
A story from the 2021 edition of the Daily Journal in Mississippi says that the Mississippi Highway Patrol said they went to the scene of the crash in rural Tishomingo around 8:47 p.m. on September 20.
Northris was going south on a two-lane road when her 2011 Ford Explorer almost hit Melissa Walker’s 2014 Ford Escape. Walker is a mother from Iuka, Mississippi, and she is 44 years old. Walker’s car came out onto the east side of the highway after the accident. His car was left in the middle of the highway after the accident.
It was mentioned in the Daily Journal that Walker’s daughter Macie Walker, who was in college at the time, and her son Michael Walker, who was in seventh grade at Iuka Middle School, were in her car. He was 13 years old.
The boy was seriously hurt in the crash and later died at a nearby hospital. The boy’s mother was also seriously hurt and needed surgery. Macie Walker was hurt very badly but lived.
The news source said on Thursday that Norris will also pay about $17,000 in reparations and another $1,400 in fines and fees.
A severe DUI charge in Mississippi can get you up to 25 years in prison, which is what Norris got for killing the 13-year-old boy. Norris also got the maximum term for the other two counts, with all but 15 years of it suspended. The sentences must be served in order, and if she breaks the rules of her five-year supervised release period after she gets out of jail, the court could make her serve the suspended sentences as well.
Their tribute for Michael Walker said that he was a “bright light in this world taken too soon” and that they loved watching him play basketball, fish, and hunt with his dad.