Jury Convicts Woman In Fatal Hit And Run Accident

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) _ A Pittsburg County jury has convicted a Kiowa woman of second-degree murder in connection with a fatal hit-and-run accident. <br/><br/>Jurors on Friday also convicted Jona Ann Montgomery

Saturday, October 6th 2007, 7:11 pm

By: News On 6

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) _ A Pittsburg County jury has convicted a Kiowa woman of second-degree murder in connection with a fatal hit-and-run accident.

Jurors on Friday also convicted Jona Ann Montgomery of another felony count, that of failure to give information at the scene of an accident involving death. They recommended a life prison sentence for Montgomery on the murder conviction and a 10-year sentence on the other conviction.

District Judge Thomas Bartheld set Montgomery's formal sentencing for Nov. 14.

On the night of Sept. 1, 2006, Montgomery was driving a vehicle that first hit a parked pickup, then several other vehicles, a tree and two children. One of them, 10-year-old Kristen Collins, died. Kristen's 15-year-old brother Aaron Collins suffered severe injuries but survived.

An investigation by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and McAlester police later determined Montgomery's vehicle was traveling at least 56 mph when it collided with the pickup.

District Attorney Jim Bob Miller said prosecutors are not celebrating Montgomery's conviction.

``It's still a sad thing,'' Miller said. ``Not only is a child dead, but the girl, the defendant, has ruined her whole life.''

Montgomery's attorneys, Charles Douglas and Keith Nedwick of Norman, contended that the murder charge was not appropriate and that Montgomery's car had become uncontrollable after the early stages of the accident.