COLUMBUS, Kan. (AP) A southeastern Kansas man has been convicted of murder for causing a double-fatality crash while he led police on a high-speed chase for 11 miles.
The Cherokee County News-Advocate reports that a jury took less than 90 minutes Thursday to find Kaston Hudgins guilty on two counts of first-degree murder.
Hudgins was fleeing a Cherokee County traffic stop on July 16, 2009, when he slammed into a car driven by 41-year-old school teacher Teresa Kemp. Her 13-year-old daughter, Taylor, died at the scene on U.S. 69 south of Pittsburg. Teresa Kemp died six days later.
Witnesses testified Hudgins was drunk and driving at least 98 mph when he hit Kemp’s vehicle.
A civil jury last year found Hudgins responsible for the crash and awarded Kemp’s husband $5.7 million in damages.