Colleen Hunt Pleads Guilty to Manslaughter For Role in Running Down Black Teenager with a Jeep

The court will sentence Hunt on March 19 at 9:30 a.m.

(Daniel Stindt)
By Katie Shepherd

One of the defendants in a murder and hate crime trial pleaded guilty Wednesday morning to manslaughter for her role in a fatal collision that killed Larnell Bruce, Jr.

Colleen Hunt, who owned the red Jeep that mowed down the black teenager, sat in the passenger seat when the vehicle struck Bruce. Witnesses say they heard her tell her boyfriend, who was driving, to strike Bruce. Her boyfriend, Russell Courtier, is also on trial in the alleged murder.

Hunt pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the murder of Bruce, because she allowed Courtier to use her vehicle to fatally strike the teenager and did not try to stop him. She also failed to report the murder and attempted to cover up the crime to protect her boyfriend.

She will not be convicted on the hate crime charge she faced.

The prosecution accepted her plea, and the other charges she faced, including murder and intimidation, will be dismissed. The court will sentence Hunt on March 19 at 9:30 a.m.

Courtier's trial before a jury is scheduled to continue this week. As WW reported this morning, the case against the couple has proven thornier than it first appeared.

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