ATLANTA — The man who crashed into an innocent driver while speeding away from police will spend the rest of his life in jail.
It took less that three hours to find Ryan Hicks guilty.
Prosecutors in the trial told the jury that Hicks was going 97 miles per hour one second before the crash at the intersection of Campbellton and Barge that killed Tamara Taylor.
During his trial this week, jurors saw video of the crash.
Sgt. David Holleman testified he tried to pull over Hicks for a broken taillight two days before in the same area. Holleman says he spotted Hicks on the night of the crash, and he sped off again.
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Georgia State Patrol took over the chase and was behind Hicks when they say he ran a red light and crashed into Taylor.
“They made the right choice,” Taylor’s father, Charles Atkins Sr., said.
Hicks was found guilty of felony murder. He was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole in 29 years.
Taylor’s father said he’s happy his family got justice, but got emotional thinking about his daughter.
“Maybe we’ll get over it somewhat, but we live on with the good memories,” Atkins said.
Taylor’s family said Hicks didn’t make a statement in court, but his mother did. They say she apologized.
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