NASHVILLE — A Tifton man was sentenced to life in prison Thursday morning after a Berrien County jury found him guilty of the murder of two siblings during a 2013 high-speed police chase.

Jurors found Israel Timothy Rutland, 41, of Tifton guilty of 14 different charges including two counts of felony murder and one count of serious injury by vehicle, according to the Alapaha District Attorney’s Office.

Following the verdict, Chief Alapaha Circuit Judge Dane Perkins sentenced Rutland to life in prison plus six years, according to court records.

The conviction stems from the deaths in a crash that killed a brother and sister and injured another sibling on her birthday in November 2013.

Matthew Dean Horton, 23, and Kelly Marie Prescott, 32, both of Willacoochee, were in a black SUV at the intersection of Enigma Road and Tifton Road where a silver Ford F-150 pickup truck, eluding officers in a high-speed chase, T-boned the siblings’ vehicle, according to Georgia State Patrol reports at the time of the incident.

He was charged with felony murder for the deaths and a count of serious injury after another SUV passenger, Heidi Nicole Mancil, was injured, life-flighted and transferred to a Tallahassee, Fla., hospital. Mancil is Horton and Prescott’s sister, according to a past article in The Valdosta Daily Times. The family was reportedly out preparing to celebrate Mancil’s 31st birthday.

“The evidence showed that Rutland was traveling 101 miles per hour when he struck the SUV the victims were traveling in that day,” according to the Alapaha District Attorney’s Office. “Law enforcement had been attempting to arrest Rutland on an aggravated assault against a peace officer warrant when Rutland fled in his truck.”

Rutland had been wanted by the Tift County Sheriff’s Office after a hit and run accident in Tift County earlier in November 2013. Georgia State Patrol pursued him, but the chase was terminated without an arrest, according to information from past reports.

Rutland was spotted again by Tift County officers and was pulled over. He was able to escape arrest by attempting to hit officers with his vehicle. Deputies chased him, but the pursuit ended without an arrest, and a warrant was issued for aggravated assault on a police officer, according to reports.

Later, Tift County deputies attempted to make a traffic stop on the suspect in his pickup truck, according to past reports in The Valdosta Daily Times. The suspect refused to stop, and the pursuit began, but was terminated when the suspect eluded the officers. A deputy later spotted the suspect and followed him into Cook County while waiting for assistance from other counties. The deputy followed the suspect into Berrien County, where the suspect attempted to run the deputy off the road.

As the suspect continued on Enigma-Nashville Road, Enigma police officers joined the chase, as well as Berrien County sheriff’s deputies, assisting in the pursuit between Enigma and Nashville. Stop sticks were employed by the Nashville Police Department in an attempt to stop the suspect, according to reports.

The suspect ran over the stop sticks, ran a stop sign at Highway 125, and collided with the SUV.

“This was a grueling trial that thankfully ended with the jury correctly finding Rutland guilty,” Alapaha District Attorney Dick Perryman said Thursday in a statement. “Hopefully this can allow the victim and the victim’s families to continue to heal. Unfortunately, we are powerless to bring back those lost lives, but we do feel that the conclusion of this trial helped to bring some justice. I am grateful for the hard work and effort from my staff, especially Assistant District Attorney Patrick Warren.”