Nicole Linton Convicted of Murder in 130 MPH Windsor Hills Crash

There is a particular finality to a verdict that names an act as murder rather than accident—a judgment that strips away the language of misfortune and replaces it with something heavier, something that requires intent or, at minimum, a conscious disregard for life so profound that the law can no longer call it a mistake. In a Los Angeles courtroom on Friday, a jury delivered that judgment in the case of Nicole Linton, the former registered nurse who drove her Mercedes-Benz through a red light at 130 miles per hour in 2022, killing six people in a fiery crash that prosecutors described as a "warzone" .

The jury deliberated for only about three hours before convicting Linton, 41, on all six counts of second-degree murder. The victims included Asherey Ryan, 23, who was eight and a half months pregnant and traveling to her final prenatal appointment; her boyfriend, Reynold Lester, 24; their 11-month-old son, Alonzo; and Ryan's unborn child, Armani. Also killed were Nathesia Lewis, 43, and Lynette Noble, 38, friends who were on a shopping trip in another vehicle .

The details established at trial were graphic and difficult to absorb. On August 4, 2022, Linton left her shift at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center early, planning to quit. Approximately eighteen minutes later, she drove through the intersection of La Brea and Slauson avenues. The light had been red for fifteen seconds. Prosecutors presented evidence that Linton revved her engine after passing the Five Points intersection and floored the gas pedal for at least five seconds before striking multiple vehicles, three of which burst into flames. The force of the crash sliced Ryan's car in half, ejected the infant's car seat, and ripped the unborn child from his mother's womb .

The prosecution's theory was "implied malice"—the argument that Linton did not need to intend to kill, but rather knowingly committed an act so reckless and dangerous that it demonstrated a conscious disregard for human life. Deputy District Attorney Antonella Nistorescu told jurors that Linton had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, had failed to take her medication, and had not slept for days before the crash. She pointed to prior incidents of erratic and aggressive driving .

The defense argued that Linton suffered a seizure behind the wheel and lost control of the vehicle. A neurologist and a psychiatrist who examined her weeks after the crash supported that conclusion. Prosecutors countered that Linton had no history of seizure disorder in her medical records and that a test designed to provoke a seizure showed no abnormal brain activity .

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said the jury's verdict confirmed that "this was no accident. Nicole Linton murdered six people when she deliberately put her foot on the gas and accelerated up to 130 mph through a red light into an intersection with visible traffic, deploying her car as a high-speed missile with complete disregard for the lives of others on the road" .

For the families of the six victims, the verdict offered a measure of accountability, though not the return of those lost. Shashanna Kerr, Ryan's sister, held a sonogram of her unborn nephew outside the courthouse and said the verdict confirmed what the families had always known. Linton faces multiple life sentences when she is sentenced on December 1. The intersection at La Brea and Slauson, once a place of ordinary passage, will remain marked by what happened there on an August afternoon—a reminder of how quickly the mundane can become the catastrophic.

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Sources: Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, Los Angeles Times, New York Post, KFI AM 640