A man accused of drag racing before a crash that killed a mother and three children two years ago was found guilty.
A judge found 24-year-old Khusen Akhmedov of Lancaster guilty of third-degree murder in a nonjury trial. His sentencing is set for October 1.
Akhmedov's lawyer, Michael Diamondstein, acknowledged that Samara Banks and three of her four sons died because of his client's speeding and reckless driving. But he argued that the evidence didn't show the malice necessary to support a third-degree murder conviction.
The decision came a week after 32-year-old Ahmen Holloman pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and was sentenced to five to 10 years.
Authorities allege that the two were racing as 27-year-old Samara Banks and her three sons — ages 4, 23 months and 7 months — were crossing a north Philadelphia boulevard on foot in July 2013, and Akhmedov's car struck them. A 5-year-old son survived.
