A Maryland woman has pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a crash that killed an adult and five children, two of whom were hers.
Dominique Taylor, 33, of Bowie, pleaded guilty to six counts of manslaughter before a judge on Friday, agreeing to bypass a trial. She faces up to 30 years in prison when she’s sentenced Jan. 13, 2020.
That’ll be nearly a year since she careened off Route 301 in Bowie, causing a deadly crash in the early morning hours of Feb. 2 of this year. The crash claimed the lives of Taylor’s daughters London Dixon, 8, and Paris Dixon, 5, as well as siblings 14-year-old Zion Beard, 15-year-old Damari Herald and 6-year-old Rickell Ricks.
Her friend Cornell Simon, who was in the passenger seat, died of his injuries a couple of weeks later. Police have said that all the children were related. Their families mourned the young lives lost in the days following the crash.
Investigators later learned the children were not wearing seatbelts and they were all ejected from Taylor’s car. She had a blood-alcohol level twice the legal limit.
“This is very tragic case. I think Ms. Taylor’s decision to plead guilty was the right choice,” Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy said in a statement. “A trial would probably have been unbearable for all parties involved. Anytime a defendant accepts responsibility we believe that is a good thing, especially in a case like this.”
(Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to reflect that Taylor entered into a plea agreement under which she pleaded guilty to manslaughter and six counts of negligent homicide were dropped.)
