A 20-year-old former Farmington resident will not serve prison time for a distracted-driving crash that killed a 31-year-old motorcyclist and seriously injured two other riders, a judge ruled this week. Anngelina Morton pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and two counts of second-degree assault in the Aug. 20, 2024, crash that killed Justin Gittings, a Seymour native who lived in Meriden and worked as a truck driver.
Judge Moira Buckley handed down the sentence at State Superior Court in Hartford, according to CT Insider, which reported that Buckley sentenced Morton to a suspended 10-year sentence and five years of probation. A separate report from WFSB described the sentence as five years of probation with no prison time; the two accounts differ on the exact structure of the sentence. Morton had faced a maximum of two and a half years in prison under her plea agreement, per the station's report.
Morton now lives in Arizona, according to CT Insider. Farmington police said she crossed more than four feet over the double-yellow centerline on Waterville Road after looking down at a text alert on her Mercedes SUV, striking two motorcycles traveling in the opposite lane. Gittings was riding one of the motorcycles; Tyler Melnick and Emily Melnick rode the other.
A Glance at a Screen, Then Impact
Morton told police she looked at something on a screen inside her vehicle immediately before the crash, according to NBC Connecticut. “I looked at it for a second, then everything happened,” she said, per that report. The station also reported that Morton crossed the double yellow line on Waterville Road, also known as Route 10, before hitting the two motorcycles.
A vehicle data recorder indicated Morton had been traveling at 41 mph for about five seconds before the collision, with no braking or substantial steering effort, according to the Hartford Courant. The newspaper reported that Morton, then 18, was arrested on March 6, 2025, and charged with two counts of second-degree assault, one count of second-degree manslaughter, distracted driving, failure to drive right, traveling unreasonably fast and reckless driving.
Gittings suffered serious lower-body and head injuries and was flown to Hartford Hospital in critical condition, according to CT Insider. He was hospitalized for 34 days before he died on Sept. 23, 2024, from injuries sustained in the crash, according to a separate CT Insider report on the Record-Journal covering his death.
Judge Cites Morton's Inexperience, No Excuse for Decision
At sentencing, Buckley noted that Morton had turned 18 just five days before the crash and was an inexperienced driver, but said there was no excuse for her decision to look away from the road, according to CT Insider. Seventeen people gave victim impact statements at the hearing, and friends and family of the victims asked the judge to impose the maximum sentence, the outlet reported.
Morton told the court she was deeply and profoundly sorry, said she wished every day that she could undo what she caused, and said moving forward meant carrying what happened with her every day, according to the same report. Gittings' father, Gary Gittings, said his son's death left a huge void and made it difficult to leave home and go to work. Elizabeth Politis said she had become emotionally hardened since her son's death, and that grief came at unpredictable moments.
Letters, Donations and Public Speeches Ordered
Buckley ordered Morton to write apology letters to the victims and to read all letters submitted to the court before a probation officer on the anniversary of the crash each year for five years. She must also speak in a public forum at least once a year about the dangers of distracted driving, the outlet reported.
The judge further ordered Morton to donate $2,000 annually to a charity agreed upon by the victims during her probation and to pay a $5,000 fine. WFSB's account similarly noted that Morton must write letters to Gittings' parents and the other victims once a year for five years and must donate the same amount annually to a charity chosen by Gittings' family.
A Comparable Case in Newtown
The sentence drew attention alongside another recent Connecticut case involving a young driver. Alexis Salazar, 20, of Danbury, received a 20-year prison sentence suspended after eight years, followed by five years of probation, for a fatal Newtown crash, according to the News-Times. Salazar pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter, evidence tampering and three counts of first-degree reckless endangerment in the August 2025 crash that killed 19-year-old Danbury resident Mary Cordero, and investigators said her Mustang had been traveling over 89 mph in a 40-mph zone before slowing to about 73 mph at impact.
Connecticut transportation officials have pointed to distracted driving as a persistent problem statewide. State data cited by the Connecticut Highway Safety Office attributed 5,318 crashes to distracted driving in 2022, resulting in eight fatalities and more than 787 injuries, though that figure has not been independently verified beyond the state's published materials.
