May 20, 2024 |
Photo – Arthur Nelson mug shot – Bigfoot99 file photo
The wrong-way driver accused of killing five college students on Interstate 80 near Rawlins nearly 18 months ago has agreed to a plea deal.
On May 10th, 59-year-old Arthur Andrew Nelson, of Limestone, Tennessee, signed a Notice of Intent to Change Plea with the Carbon County Prosecutor’s Office.
Nelson has agreed to plead guilty or no contest to five counts of aggravated homicide by vehicle and a single count of felony driving while under the influence of a controlled substance resulting in serious bodily injury.
On the evening of January 22, 2023, Nelson was allegedly high on meth while driving the wrong way on Interstate 80. Nelson, behind the wheel of his Dodge Ram 3500 pickup truck, was traveling east in the westbound lane when a semi-truck, attempting to avoid Nelson’s vehicle, veered into the eastbound lanes and collided, head-on, with a Ford F150 carrying five students from Sherwood, Arkansas.
Both the semi-truck and Ford F150 were almost immediately engulfed in flames. All five young people were pronounced dead at the scene.
The female drive of the semi-truck was severely burned in the incident.
The fatal crash victims are Suzy Prime, Andrea Prime, Ava Luplow, Salomon Correa, and Magdalene “Maggie” Franco. Suzy, 18, and Andrea Prime, 23, were sisters.
The five young people were heading back to Arkansas after spending a week touring the Jackson Hole Bible College.
The driver of the semi-truck has not been publicly identified and her condition is unknown. Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Corey McCallister, who responded to the crash scene, said in a written affidavit, “I observed the majority of her face and head to be burned.”
In August of 2023, Nelson was declared incompetent to stand trial and committed to the Wyoming State Hospital in Evanston until he could be made well enough to face charges.
On May 10th, Carbon County Prosecutor Sarah Chavez Harkins sent a plea offer to Nelson’s attorney, Senior Assistant Public Defender Patty Bennett. Harkins offered to cap each of the five aggravated homicide by vehicle charges to between 15 and 20 years. Each count will run consecutively, meaning that Nelson faces 75 to 100 years in prison.
Additionally, the county prosecutor presented Nelson with a deal on the charge of driving while under the influence of a controlled substance, stemming from the serious injuries sustained by the unnamed semi-truck driver. The Carbon County prosecuting attorney offered to cap the time Nelson will serve to between eight and ten years. The added time will run concurrently, or at the same time, as the five vehicular homicide counts.
The prosecutor gave Nelson and his attorney until the following Monday, May 13th to sign the plea agreement.
Court documents show that Nelson signed the agreement the same day it was received.
Nelson is due back in Carbon County District Court at 2:30 this afternoon. Honorable Judge Dawnessa Snyder will review the plea agreement and, if everything meets the judge’s approval, Nelson will be sentenced.
