Driver is given 12 years in prison

NEW MADRID - After receiving letter after letter lamenting the loss of two children, a New Madrid County judge sentenced the driver of the car that killed them to prison.

Christopher C. Wyland of Hickman, Ky., was sentenced to 12 years in the prison for the June 27, 2004, deaths of Brittany Renee Tipler, 14, of East Prairie and 1-year-old Everett Shantez Yates of Kevil, Ky. The sentence, six years on each count of involuntary manslaughter with the terms to run consecutively, was handed down Monday by Judge Fred E. Copeland.

The accident occurred at 8:26 p.m. June 27, 2004, in Mississippi County on Highway 60, seven miles east of Charleston. Wyland was driving westbound when his car crossed over the centerline and struck a vehicle driven by LaTosha A. Yates, 28, of Kevil, Ky., head on.

Yates' passengers, Brittany and Everett, were pronounced dead at the scene. Also injured in the accident were Yates and two other passengers in her vehicle and Wyland.