A Richmond grand jury indicted a North Carolina man Monday on three new charges in a fatal crash attributed to road rage in September, including a charge of involuntary manslaughter.
The grand jury indicted Christopher Sessoms, 40, of Wake County, N.C., on charges of involuntary manslaughter, driving with a suspended license and with death resulting from reckless driving by racing. He already was being held without bail at the Richmond City Jail on a charge of hit-and-run.
If convicted on all four charges, Sessoms could face up to 36 years in prison.
The four charges stem from a Sept. 22 crash that fatally injured Christopher Lee Fisher, 24, of Richmond. The wreck occurred in the southbound lanes of Interstate 195 at the Douglasdale Road interchange.
Authorities say Sessoms, driving a red pickup truck, sped past a Honda Accord, cut in front of it and slammed on the brakes.
The Honda's driver, while trying to avoid a collision, veered off the road. The vehicle struck a concrete guardrail and became airborne before the driver's side smashed into a concrete bridge abutment underneath Douglasdale Road, police said.
Sessoms has a bond hearing set for next week.
His attorney, William Linka, declined Monday to comment on the case.
Sessoms has not had a valid driver's license since his North Carolina license was suspended in 2003, according to Marge Howell, a spokeswoman for the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles.
His license was suspended in 2003 after he failed to appear in court in Carteret County, N.C., for a speeding case, Howell said. Since 2003, he failed to pay a fine on another matter and failed to appear in court three additional times to face allegations of speeding, driving without an operator's license and driving with a revoked license, she said.
North Carolina court records show that Sessoms has convictions since 1998 on several charges, including driving with a revoked license, driving while intoxicated, possession of an open container of alcohol in the passenger area of a vehicle, resisting a public officer and several counts of trespassing.
Authorities said Charity Dees, 31, was a passenger in the red pickup at the time of the wreck that killed Fisher. She also is charged with hit-and-run and is free on $10,000 bond. She has a hearing set for March 12 in Richmond traffic court.
Federal marshals captured Sessoms and Dees on Oct. 11 at the home they shared in Wake County, N.C. Authorities took the suspects into custody after Dees pulled up to their home driving the red pickup that authorities say was involved in the fatal crash.
Law enforcement officials said Dees also was charged with trafficking in opiates after they found 82 Oxycontin pills in her bra.
She pleaded guilty last month in Wake County District Court to a lesser drug charge, court officials said. She was sentenced to probation for two years.
Ed Riley, an attorney representing Dees on the hit-and-run case, could not immediately be reached for comment.
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