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 commissioned by the defense team.
One story was from Linton’s former lover, who recalled a time when the two of them were in her apartment when the psychological break began.
“[She started] talking to herself and to other people who were not there… acting paranoid and seeing things and people that were not there… when suddenly she ‘jumped up, sprinted to the window and dove right thru [sic] the glass,’” the ex-boyfriend recalled in Millett’s report.
In another case, on May 6, 2018, Linton jumped on top of a police officer’s patrol car.
“She then ran out of the restaurant across several lanes of traffic, stopped in front of a moving police car, made facial gestures at the officer behind the wheel before jumping on the hood and then up and down on the roof of the patrol car,” the report said.
Between 2019 and August 2022, there are no documented episodes of any Linton behaviors Millett claims are suggestive of seizures. However, the doctor mentioned in his report that Linton claims she was in “a dream-like state” a few hours before the crash. On that day, she alleges she was “unable to distinguish reality from imagination, with cartoon-like visual hallucinations and intense, overwhelming emotions.”
Millett also presented in his report how her high-stress job could have also played a part in her break.
Linton was allegedly anxious earlier that day, Millett’s report states, and was experiencing insomnia triggered by the stress of her nursing duties.
“Ms. Linton has been entirely consistent over time and in the context of different interviews with police and medical staff including myself in reporting that she lost consciousness while driving prior to approaching the accident site, and regained memory after she had exited the car sitting/lying on the sidewalk,” the report asserts.
“The most compelling explanation for this abrupt loss of consciousness, including loss of both memory and awareness of her immediate circumstances for a matter of only minutes, is that Ms. Linton experienced a seizure. Dissociative amnesia is a less likely differential diagnosis.”
The prosecution had their own psychiatrist evaluate Linton, and that medical professional’s psychiatric evaluation showed no indication that the defendant suffered a seizure.
Linton’s lawyer took exception to the evaluation, saying the prosecution is trying to win the case “by ambush,” and that it was done without her knowledge.
Jacqueline Sparagna now wants a judge to vacate an order that allowed her client to speak with a psychologist hired by the prosecution without her knowledge or consent.
Greg Risling, spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, said, “On April 17, 2023, the judge hearing the matter, Eleanor Hunter, signed an order appointing Dr. Robert Schug to examine the defendant. Any defense objections as to this appointment, and any potential response, will be heard and addressed in court.”
The prosecution has other evidence. They conducted a forensic survey of the vehicle’s data and surveillance video and says it shows Linton had “complete control over steering,” adding “This NASCAR-worthy performance flies in the face of the notion that she was unconscious or incapacitated.”
When addressing Linton’s role in the fatal pile-up after the accident, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement “This is a case that will always be remembered for the senseless loss of so many innocent lives as they simply went about their daily routines.”
In addition to the people who died, six other vehicles were involved in the crash. In one SUV, five people suffered minor injuries. Another driver in yet another vehicle also suffered injuries.
Linton currently is being held in the Los Angeles County Jail.
