UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (AP) — A Naval Academy midshipman whose car slammed into another vehicle, killing two occupants, while he fumbled with his cell phone was acquitted of manslaughter but convicted of negligence.
Jason Jones, 19, was fined $500 for negligent driving and given four points against the revocation of his driver's license.
John and Carole Hall of Suffolk, N.Y., and their two children were returning from a 1999 Thanksgiving vacation in Virginia when they pulled to the side of the Capital Beltway around Washington, D.C., so one of the children could urinate. While the boy was out of the car, Jones' car rammed the Hall's vehicle, killing the parents. A second child in the car survived.
A Maryland state trooper testified Jones was traveling 68 miles an hour when he hit the Hall's car.