MAGNOLIA -- Charles Wayne Jones pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of negligent homicide in the 2019 death of his 3-year old daughter.
According to court records, on Dec. 22, 2019, Jones rear-ended Nathan Jamerson and Dana Manor at the intersection of East North Street and North Fredrick Street in Magnolia.
Records state that Jones, with three passengers in his vehicle, drove away after the wreck, and Jamerson and Manor pursued him. Manor told police that although they tried to catch up to the vehicle that hit them, they weren't able to because it was going too fast.
Jones lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a tree on Columbia Road 36, where Jamerson and Manor found the wreckage and called 911.
Deputy Mallory Waller responded to the scene and found a man and woman with major injuries, a child who had been ejected from the vehicle and another child trapped inside the vehicle, also with severe injuries, according to court documents.
Columbia County Ambulance Services freed the trapped child and transported him, Jones and the other child to Magnolia Regional Medical Center.
The child who was ejected from the vehicle, who was Jones' 3-year-old daughter, was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The results of a blood test indicated that Jones had a blood alcohol content of 0.10% and was also positive for THC, the principal psychoactive compound in marijuana. On April 13, 2020, additional test results indicated that baggies found in the car contained marijuana.
On June 16, 2020, Jones was arrested, and in a police interview said he'd lost control of his vehicle that night while intoxicated, according to court records. He also told the detective that the marijuana in the vehicle was his, documents state.
Jones will be sentenced at a later date.