Two plead in drag-racing wreck that killed 5

Two men accused of drag racing in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and causing a deadly crash pleaded guilty Monday to second-degree murder.

Jonathan Hall, 19, of Lebanon, and Steven Williams, 20, of Murfreesboro were each charged with five counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of five people from Virginia in a collision last March along a stretch of U.S. Highway 441 called ?the Spur? that links Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg.

Hall?s car broadsided the car carrying the five people and Williams? car narrowly missed as witnesses said the racers reached speeds of up to 90 mph.

Under a deal reached with prosecutors, the men pleaded guilty to one count each of second-degree murder while the other four charges were dismissed, The Mountain Press in Sevierville reported.

U.S. District Court Judge Tom Varlan set their sentencing for Oct. 3.

Myra Nelson, 64, of Chesapeake, her husband George Nelson, 80, and passengers Anthony Dietz, 70, his wife, Betty Dietz, both of Virginia Beach, Va., and Myra Nelson?s mother, Audrey Fentress, also of Chesapeake, were killed.

Williams was a private serving with the 101st Airborne Division at Ft. Campbell, Ky. Now convicted of a felony, Williams will have to leave the military. He decided to enter a guilty plea over the weekend, his attorney Steve Shope said.

Hall?s attorneys conferred with him after learning of Williams? deal.