Man pleads to involuntary manslaughter in NC death

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A man has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of a 9-year-old girl who was struck by a car in Buncombe County.

Twenty-nine-year-old Harry Smith Kimmons III originally was charged with first-degree murder in the death of the girl last year.

Kimmons also pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury for striking the girl's mother.

Prosecutors said they agreed to allow the lesser charges because evidence from the car's digital information system showed Kimmons was applying the brakes when his car struck Jennifer Simpson and her daughter, Eryka Phillips, as they walked along a road last May.

Judge Mark Powell sentenced Kimmons to about four years to six years in prison.