An Upper Marlboro, Maryland, woman will spend two years in prison after pleading guilty to her role in a 2024 crash that killed Khyree Jackson and two other men.
An Upper Marlboro, Maryland, woman was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison after pleading guilty to her role in a 2024 crash that killed Khyree Jackson and two other men.
Months before the crash, Jackson had been selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL Draft. The two other men killed were former teammates of Jackson’s at Wise High School in Upper Marlboro.
Cori Clingman pleaded guilty in November to three counts of negligent homicide under the influence of alcohol. Each count carried a maximum penalty of five years in prison, but prosecutors said at the time of her plea they would recommend 15 years, with all but three years suspended.
She was given that sentence Wednesday — 15 years with all but three suspended and credit for time served, which is 377 days. So, effectively, Clingman will spend about two more years in prison.
“I hope that she will use this time really to think about her actions and the lives that have been lost, her friends, the lives of her friends that have been lost, and become a more productive member of our community,” Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Tara Jackson said.
Prosecutors said Clingman caused the death of the three men, all Maryland natives, when she rammed her Infinity Q50 into a Dodge Charger and a Chevrolet Impala on July 6, 2024, while driving on Route 4-Pennsylvania Avenue.
Inside the Charger with Jackson were 23-year-old Isaiah Hazel and 24-year-old Anthony Lytton Jr. Officials said the Charger was also traveling at a high rate of speed.
Before the sentence was handed down Wednesday, family and friends of those killed read emotional victim impact statements, including Jackson’s parents, Raymond and Ebbony, who cried as they described the loss of their firstborn child.
Ebbony called her son her joy and her best friend. She said her son embraced being called a “mama’s boy” and that they talked on FaceTime almost daily. A letter was also read on behalf of Jackson’s 12-year-old brother Kolston, which stated he misses playing sports and video games with his cool older brother.
Clingman herself also addressed the courtroom before learning her fate, taking the chance to apologize to the families of the victims.
“From the deepest place in my heart, I’m sorry,” she said, adding the men were her “family” and making a promise to honor their memories and spend her life striving to do better.
According to her attorney, Clingman was close friends with all three men, meeting one in middle school and the other two in high school. Clingman was a manager on the Wise High School football team.
“They grew a bond based on their mutual love of football, the countless hours they spent together with her as manager, and that blossomed into a very important relationship with each of those individuals,” Thomas Christopher Mooney, Clingman’s lawyer, said.
None of the occupants of the Impala or Clingman’s Q50 were injured in the July 2024 crash.
Had the case advanced to trial, prosecutors said, an expert would have testified that Clingman’s blood alcohol level was between .12 and .18 at the time of the crash.
“I really just want to take this opportunity to highlight how dangerous speed and alcohol are. To have to watch parents grieve, siblings grieve, cousins grieve, to talk about losing children that are in their early 20s, at the prime of their lives — it’s devastating. And it’s because of choices that we don’t have to make,” State’s Attorney Jackson said.
Jackson played cornerback for Alabama before transferring to Oregon for his final year of college. He shined for the Ducks as a starter and was named first-team All-Pac-12. The Vikings selected him in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
During his short time with the Vikings before his death, head coach Kevin O’Connell said Jackson made a lasting impression.
“He cared about being a good teammate, being part of a locker room and committing to working hard for something that was bigger than himself,” O’Connell said.
WTOP’s Linh Bui, Scott Gelman and Jessica Kronzer contributed to this report.
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