19-Year-Old Pleads Guilty in Hit-Run Death
Christopher Nathan Ringgold, the 19-year-old charged with killing a Ventura woman in a hit-and-run accident last month, has pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter, according to court records.
Ringgold, a Ventura resident, initially pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the death of Leslie Dawn Talley. The 50-year-old woman was run down while crossing Thompson Boulevard in Ventura last month.
Ringgold was charged with vehicular manslaughter without negligence and hit-and-run causing death, both felonies.
He changed his plea during a brief court appearance last week. A sentencing hearing is now set for Dec. 16. He could be sentenced to up to four years.
Talley was crossing Thompson Boulevard near Ash Street on Oct. 16 with her two dogs when she was struck by a gray pickup. Witnesses said the driver shook the vehicle back and forth to dislodge the woman’s body from the hood and drove away, leaving Talley lying crumpled and unconscious in the street.
Prosecutors say Ringgold ran over Talley as he fled the scene. He later confessed to authorities after first telling Ventura police that his truck had been stolen.
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