An unlicensed New Jersey man was sentenced to 11 years in prison for killing a woman in a hit-and-run car crash, authorities announced Wednesday.
Giovanni Gaines-Little, 24, had admitted to killing Kerri Lynn Shea, 43, in a wreck in South Brunswick on Feb. 25, 2023.
Gaines-Little pleaded guilty to second-degree vehicular homicide and second-degree leaving the scene of a deadly accident.
He was sentenced Monday to five years on the first charge and six years on the other charge, with the sentences running consecutively, according to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.
In the deadly accident, Gaines-Little sped through a red light in his Mitsubishi Lancer, slamming into Shea’s vehicle, police said. After the crash, Gaines-Little sprinted away from the scene on foot, leaving Shea to die and also ditching a passenger in his own vehicle, investigators said.
After nearly a year of investigation, Gaines-Little was arrested on Jan. 29, 2024. He pleaded guilty on April 12.
In addition to the 11-year sentence, Gaines-Little will be on probation for three years after he’s released.
Shea was remembered as a loving mother and passionate member of a local theater group. She was involved in the Playhouse 22 theater company in East Brunswick, about 35 miles southwest of Manhattan.
