Digital Forensics Dispatch

One Year Sentence for Attorney Guilty of Killing Three on Virginia Highway, Digital Evidence Involved

October 31, 2019

A plea deal was accepted Tuesday October 29^th between prosecutors and the defense for Richmond attorney Claire Carr who killed three people on Route 288 last year.

The accident occurred on the night of June 27^th, 2018 when driver Linli Xu was traveling along Route 288 and hit a deer, causing her Mercedes vehicle to come to a stop in the left lane of travel. Two people stopped their cars and came to assist Xu. Prosecutors stated all three were off the roadway when the vehicle driven by Carr approached. The vehicle swerved to avoid hitting the disabled Mercedes, but instead drove into the three victims causing their death.

Presented evidence showed Carr using her cellular device to send an emoji “seconds before the collision.” Prosecutors added that according to Virginia distracted driving laws, it is “difficult to prove criminal negligence in cases like this one.”

Often, it is possible to obtain information stored on cellular devices leading up to a crash. By combining the time of the crash, and the timeline of events occurring on a cellular phone, a conclusion may be reached that the driver was distracted by their device.

Eventually, a plea deal was reached and Carr entered a guilty plea to one count of reckless driving with a one-year jail sentence. After acceptance of the plea deal, Carr will immediately begin serving her time in jail with release to work privileges during the week. In addition, Carr’s driving privileges were suspended for six months.

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