UPDATE: Man pleads guilty in fatal road-rage case on I-195 in Richmond

Christopher Sessoms

By: REED WILLIAMS | Times-Dispatch 
Published: May 01, 2012
Updated: May 01, 2012 - 11:44 AM

A North Carolina man today pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident in a 2011 fatal road-rage case in Richmond.

Christopher Sessoms, 41, of Jacksonville, N.C., entered the plea in Richmond Circuit Court in the crash Sept. 22 on Interstate 195 that fatally injured Christopher Lee Fisher, 24, of Richmond.

In exchange for the plea, authorities withdrew charges of driving without a license and death resulting from reckless driving. Sentencing was set for July 11.

Sessoms faces a maximum of 20 years in prison _ 10 on each charge.

Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Tracy Thorne-Begland said he agreed to the plea because, although he said that Sessoms was the primary aggressor, “both parties contributed to the ultimate fatality.”

Family members declined to comment after the hearing but released a statement through Thorne-Begland thanking authorities for their dedication.

“We are grateful to those who stopped to help Chris after the accident and the witnesses that told the story of what took place,” the statement adds. “Nothing will bring Chris back to us, but we are relieved that Mr. Sessoms has taken responsibility for his actions.”

Sessoms was driving a red Ford pickup with his fiancée in the passenger seat after attending a show by the band Widespread Panic at The National in Richmond, Thorne-Begland said in court this morning.

Fisher was driving in the southbound lanes of Interstate 195 from his home on Monument Avenue on his way to work as a financial adviser, when, according to witnesses, the Ford pickup sped past Fisher’s Honda at an estimated 90 mph, pulled in front of Fisher and slammed on the brakes, Thorne-Begland said.

The two vehicles took off and “engaged in what can only be described as aggressive driving toward each other,” Thorne-Begland said.

The vehicles at one point were side-by-side, with Sessoms swerving multiple times toward the car Fisher was driving, forcing the car into an emergency lane and onto some grass, Thorne-Begland said.

“Mr. Fisher’s vehicle ran out of roadway,” Thorne-Begland said. “The vehicle began to rotate further and further up onto the hillside.”

The Honda hit a manhole cover and became airborne, rotating through the air before it smashed into a concrete bridge abutment underneath Douglasdale Road.

Fisher suffered severe blunt injuries to his chest and was taken to VCU Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

Thorne-Begland said Sessoms traveled around the U.S., including to Georgia and Tennessee, to avoid detection by law enforcement.

Sessoms initially told police that he didn’t know anyone had been hurt in the incident and also that Dees had been driving, not him. He later acknowledged he had been driving.

Sessoms’ attorney, William Linka, said in court today that Fisher had been driving in excess of 70 mph during the incident.

Sessoms’ fiancée, Charity Dees, faces a charge of leaving an accident scene as a passenger. Her preliminary hearing in Richmond traffic court is set for May 21.