Columbia Man Pleads Guilty to Manslaughter for 2012 Crash
The man's blood tested positive for prescription medication at the time of the accident.
A Columbia man pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Howard County Circuit Court last week for his involvement in a fatal auto accident last February. Richie Junior Burgess, 42, of the 12000 block of Little Patuxent Parkway, pleaded guilty to criminal negligent manslaught by motor vehicle in an accident that resulted in the death of Mary Ann Levant, 64, a staff member at Marriotts Ridge High School, according to a state's attorney's office spokesperson. An analysis of blood drawn from Burgess on the night of the accident by Maryland State Police found he was driving under the influence of the prescription medication Alprazolam, also known as Xanax. According to the statement of the facts in the case, a traffic expert determined that Burgess' …
EL
9:51 am on Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Thanks for the update. For quite some time, rumor had circulated that Ms. Levant had caused the accident. Later we heard that might NOT be the case but we never heard the details. This man appears to have a history of trouble with the law. Now his poor choices have robbed someone of their wife, people of their friend, and a community of someone who truly cared about it. His guilty plea is a good … more ›