A Utah man at the controls of a helicopter that crashed in December 2021 in Sevier County, killing his passenger, has pleaded guilty in her death.

Matthew Jones will face sentencing March 23 before Sevier County Criminal Court Judge James Gass. He pleaded guilty Wednesday to criminally negligent homicide in the death of Julianne Wagner Gerritsen.

Criminally negligent homicide is a Class E felony with a range of punishment of 1 to 6 years in prison.

Jones had been warned in the days before the crash by a federal judge in Utah not to fly. He did it anyway, traveling to Sevier County in December 2021 with Gerritsen to pick up a helicopter he was interested in using for a new business.

Jones crashed the Robinson R44 in a remote part of the county near the Cocke County line in drizzly, over

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