Sixty-one-year-old James L. Green was sentenced Thursday in Jackson County after pleading guilty to two counts each of second-degree murder and assault. The Odessa man also pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated.
Prosecutors say Green was intoxicated and driving with a suspended driver’s license when his sport utility vehicle hit another vehicle from behind on the freeway in Blue Springs. Three other vehicles later were involved in the wreck.
The crash killed 7-year-old Chloe Beaird and 13-year-old Gavin Beaird, both of Warrenton. Two injured adults included the children’s father, who was left paralyzed from the chest down.