The long-awaited trial revisited the 2022 collision through surveillance video, witness testimony and evidence that prompted emotional reactions from victims’ relatives.
LOS ANGELES — More than four years after a high-speed collision killed six people at a Windsor Hills intersection, relatives of the victims returned to a Los Angeles courtroom as jurors were shown surveillance footage and other evidence from the crash at the opening of Nicole Linton’s murder trial.
Linton, a former traveling nurse, has pleaded not guilty to six counts of murder and five counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. Prosecutors allege she was traveling at about 130 mph when her Mercedes-Benz entered the intersection of Slauson and La Brea avenues against a red light on Aug. 4, 2022. Her attorneys say she suffered a seizure and lost control before the collision.
The people killed included Asherey Ryan, her 11-month-old son, Alonzo Quintero, her boyfriend, Reynold Lester, and Ryan’s unborn son, Armani. Nathesia Lewis and Lynette Noble also died. Ryan was more than eight months pregnant and was headed to a prenatal appointment when the crash occurred. Other people were injured in the multi-vehicle collision.
The first day of testimony forced relatives and jurors to revisit the crash through surveillance recordings and photographs. Video showed the Mercedes traveling rapidly into the intersection before the collision. Prosecutors also displayed images of the aftermath as they began laying out their account of how the crash occurred. Several family members left the courtroom during the presentation, and others in the room were visibly emotional.
The evidence was shown as prosecutors sought to establish both the force of the collision and what they say Linton was doing in the seconds before it. They contend she continued accelerating, remained in control of the Mercedes and had opportunities to slow or stop before reaching the red light. Crash-reconstruction evidence will be important to that argument as the case proceeds.
Linton’s defense urged jurors not to let the emotional weight of the deaths determine the verdict. Defense attorney Jovan Blacknell said the collision followed a sudden medical emergency and argued that Linton suffered a seizure before impact. Her lawyers say there was no evidence she was intoxicated, using her phone, racing another vehicle or engaged in a confrontation with another driver.
The defense has also pointed to Linton’s behavior before the crash. Her attorneys say colleagues noticed she was not acting like herself, and they have described unusual statements she made during a telephone conversation with her sister. Emergency personnel who encountered her after the collision previously testified that she appeared confused and could not remember the events immediately leading to the crash.
Prosecutors plan to challenge that account with medical and physical evidence. They say the path of the Mercedes as it approached Slauson and La Brea indicates that Linton continued to steer the car and dispute that a seizure explains her driving. Prosecutors have also described her as frustrated with her nursing job before she left work that day, an assertion the defense says does not establish why the collision occurred.
The trial marks a major stage in a case that has remained a painful presence in Windsor Hills. In the days after the crash, mourners gathered near the intersection and created a memorial for those killed. Community members and victims’ relatives have continued to commemorate the six as the criminal case moved through years of pretrial proceedings.
At trial, however, jurors must separate that grief from the legal questions before them. Linton is presumed innocent, and the prosecution must prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. The defense is asking the jury to distinguish between the undisputed devastation caused by the collision and its claim that Linton was incapacitated by a medical episode.
Witness testimony began with people connected to the collision and is expected to continue as prosecutors present their case. The trial is expected to last several weeks before the defense completes its presentation and the case is submitted to jurors.
Author note: Last updated September 13, 2026.