Woman facing murder and reckless driving charges dies

Published 3:14 pm Monday, October 5, 2015

A woman facing charges of murder and reckless driving for an incident that occurred in North Chilton County in 2013 has died.

Prosecutors with the 19th Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office filed a motion Oct. 2 requesting Chilton County Circuit Judge John B. Bush dismiss and recall all outstanding warrants for the case against Amanda Rhoden Kizzire, 33, of Birmingham, due to her death.

Kizzire previously listed an address in Montevallo, but recently listed an address in Birmingham, according to court records.

Bush filed an order Oct. 2 dismissing Kizzire’s case and recalled all outstanding warrants.

A warrant was out for Kizzire’s arrest after she failed to appear in court for her plea hearing Sept. 24.

Court records indicate Kizzire was released from jail on bond July 28.

Kizzire was indicted in August 2014 on three charges including murder reckless, driving under the influence, and reckless driving, according to court records.

The indictment states that Kizzire “recklessly engaged in conduct with manifested indifference to human life and created a grave risk of death to a person and thereby caused the death of David Thomas Bryant.”

The Calera Police Department investigated the crash, which happened at about 5:40 a.m. on Sept. 6, 2013, on Highway 31 just north of Chilton County Road 95.

The crash involved a motorcycle and an SUV.

Calera Police Sgt. Deven Heathcock, an investigator in the department’s traffic homicide unit, said at the time of the crash that Kizzire was traveling on the wrong side of the road when she collided with Bryant, 35, of Jemison, who was driving a motorcycle.

The two collided head-on near County Road 95.

Bryant was killed at the scene, and Kizzire was transported to UAB and treated for minor injuries and released later that day.

The indictment also states Kizzire operated a motor vehicle in Chilton County while under the influence of methamphetamine and amphetamine.

Kizzire was arrested Sept. 9, 2013, and later released from the Chilton County Jail on a $162,500 bond in June 2014.

Kizzire’s defense attorney Davy Hay said on Monday that Kizzire, who recently went by Amanda Newton, had been struggling with addiction for a long time.

“Amanda was not a bad person,” Hay said. “She grieved so heavily for the family who lost a loved one in the incident. She wanted something positive to come out of this, but was devastated about what had happened. She was a great person. She just had demons.”