Guilty plea in fatal 2023 Christmas crash

The driver in a deadly car crash pleaded guilty on Tuesday, Sept. 30, to second degree manslaughter charges.

Samuel Simmons, 22, of North Canaan, admitted he was under the influence of marijuana at the time of the single-car crash that killed the passenger in his vehicle on Dec. 25, 2023. Per the plea agreement, he will be sentenced to four and a half years in prison with five years of probation.

The victim, Avery Nelson, 24, of Norfolk, was the passenger in Simmons’ 1995 Volvo 850T5R. She was pronounced dead on the scene as a result of injuries sustained when the Volvo struck a four-foot, two-inch tree, a fence and a railing in front of a residence on Twin Lakes Road just west of the intersection of Canaan Road (Route 44) in the Town of Salisbury on Christmas Day afternoon.

A collision report issued by the Collison Analysis and Reconstruction Squad concluded that Simmons, while traveling between 74 and 79 miles per hour, attempted a left-steering maneuver that exceeded “the handling ability of the Volvo.”

His sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 20, 2026.