New details have emerged about a possible defense that could be presented by attorneys for the traveling nurse accused of murder in the deaths of six people in a fatal car crash she caused last summer in Los Angeles.
The defense alleges Nicole Linton, whose advocates say she is bipolar, could have had a seizure at the time of the accident. The prosecutors say she intentionally caused the high-speed collision on Aug. 4, 2022.
Linton has pleaded not guilty to six counts of murder and five counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.
A defense expert witness said Linton’s “active acceleration of the vehicle as it approached the intersection, without recognizing the imminent danger to herself, is strongly suggestive of an escape response similar the other major episodes and may represent a form of frontal lobe seizure as described above,” Law and Crime reports.
Linton’s Mercedes had been moving at as much as 130 mph on La Brea Boulevard when she plowed directly through a red light signal and into multiple vehicles in an intersection, causing a massive fire and leaving six victims: five adults, one toddler, and one unborn child.
Asherey Ryan, 23, one of the fatalities in the crash, was pregnant at the time of the tragic collision. She was in the car with her boyfriend Reynold Lester and her 11-month-old son Allonzo.
Two other women lost their lives. They were in a separate vehicle.
Linton’s lawyers cite findings from neurologist Dr. David Millett, who said Linton may have experienced an episode of losing consciousness while she was driving on that fateful day.
The expert, whose professional concentration is epilepsy and seizures, said in a four-page report obtained by the New York Post that the woman had a history of “major episodes” of bizarre behavior dating back to 2018.
In another case, the woman reportedly dived through a window.
Millett described two extraordinary episodes in the report…
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