Prosecutor: Chandler Kania wouldn't stop honking horn after deadly wrong-way crash
HILLSBOROUGH (WTVD) -- Opening statements got underway Wednesday in the trial of Chandler Kania with the prosecutor revealing what the former University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill student did after a wrong-way crash on Interstate 85 that claimed the lives of three people last year.
Kania is facing three counts of second degree murder and reckless driving charges in connection with the fatal July 2015 wreck.
During opening statements, the prosecutor said Kania "wouldn't stop honking his horn ... with a car full of dead people in front of him."
Kania pleaded guilty to some of the charges he was facing - including three counts of felony death by motor vehicle, felony serious injury by motor vehicle and driving while impaired - earlier this week.
Last year, an Orange County grand jury had indicted the then-20-year-old on three second-degree murder charges, three counts of felony death by a motor vehicle and one count of felony serious injury by a motor vehicle. He was also charged with obtaining alcohol with a false driver's license.
Darlene McGee, 46, of Charlotte, her friend Felecia Harris, 49, of Charlotte, and Harris' granddaughter Jahnice Beard, 6, of Brooklyn, New York, were traveling home when their vehicle collided with a Jeep driven by Kania, who admitted Monday to driving while impaired. Kania was headed northbound on Interstate 85 in the southbound lane at Exit 163. Harris' daughter, Jahnia King, 9, was also seriously hurt in the crash.
Investigators said Kania purchased and consumed alcohol and used marijuana before driving the wrong way down the interstate.
Prosecutors said Kania gave troopers someone else's ID when asked for identification. Officers also noted there was an open container of alcohol in his vehicle.
Some Chapel Hill bars were fined and had their licenses suspended for allegedly serving the underage student.
Kania, who is from Asheboro, was released from jail after his family posted a $1 million bond. Kania could face several years in prison.
