A superior court judge Tuesday sentenced 30-year-old Kymbalee Ann Phillips to 16 years in prison for the deaths of two Rabun County residents killed in a traffic accident in 2016. Judge Chan Caudell also sentenced Phillips to 14 years on probation.
A Rabun County jury on Friday convicted the Winder woman on multiple charges including two counts of first-degree vehicular homicide by reckless driving.
State Patrol TFC Joseph Tucker said at the time of the accident that Phillips was driving a white Toyota Tacoma west on Wolf Creek when she made a left-hand turn and ended up traveling south in the northbound lanes of Hwy. 441. As she attempted to move into the southbound lanes her truck struck a Nissan Titan pickup carrying five people.
Matthew Hester, 23, and Sarah Bradshaw, 24, died after being thrown from the pickup. Two other adults in the pickup were also ejected. Jonathan Wayne Hester of Habersham County and Kimberly Paige Rohletter of Westminster, South Carolina, were both seriously injured. They testified during the trial.
Rohletter’s 4-year-old son Anthony was also injured in the wreck but was strapped into his car seat and was not ejected.
Phillips’ trial began on September 16 in Rabun County Superior Court. The jury heard almost three days of evidence from eyewitnesses and experts. They deliberated for approximately six hours before handing down their verdicts.
In addition to first-degree vehicular homicide and reckless driving, jurors found Phillips guilty on two counts of second-degree vehicular homicide and two counts of serious injury by vehicle, the District Attorney’s office says.
The jury acquitted Phillips of several other counts related to driving under the influence.
