A 22-year-old Maumelle woman who killed a mother and son in an Easter 2013 car crash that also inflicted brain injuries on a 9-year-old boy was sentenced to nine months in jail Monday.
But Circuit Judge Herb Wright's decision to allow Ladrill Shawnta White to serve her sentence on weekends so enraged the family of 49-year-old Patricia Ann Miller and 26-year-old Blake Anthony Brown that they stormed out of the courtroom.
"She took my mama. She took my brother. She hurt my baby," a weeping Latoya Miller screamed as she stormed out of the court followed by other distraught relatives.
"It's not justice. It's not justice. The system is all messed up," another woman called out.
The family left the court before the judge could finish explaining his decision to allow White to serve weekends. He said the sentence recognized that she has two full-time jobs and only misdemeanor prior convictions.
But Wright also said that serving weekends would require White to take longer to complete her sentence under the sentencing limitations placed upon him by the law.
With White facing a maximum sentence of a year in jail, deputy prosecutor Erin Driver asked the judge to consider a lengthy sentence. White has never had a driver's license, and police found that she was driving 84 mph when she collided with Patricia Miller's car.
"What we're asking for is justice for this family," Driver told the judge.
White pleaded guilty in January to misdemeanor charges -- two counts of negligent homicide and third-degree battery for the injuries to Miller's grandson, Zavian Miller. Prosecutors reduced the charges from manslaughter and battery felonies in exchange for the guilty plea. A year in jail was the maximum penalty.
At Monday's sentencing, Latoya Miller testified that her son, Zavian, was the backseat passenger in Patricia Miller's car. She said her son, now 11, required brain surgery for his injuries and still needs regular therapy and counseling, likely at least until he finishes school.
Zavian has developed anger problems and has a hard time focusing at school, his mother said, telling the judge that the boy was very close to his grandmother and was too upset to testify at the hearing.
The day her mother and brother were killed, they were on their way to Patricia Miller's new house, where a family dinner and an Easter egg hunt were planned, Latoya Miller told the judge.
She said her brother was the "baby boy" out of four siblings, and his affection kept the close-knit family even closer.
"He shared his love for everybody," she said. "He was the one who kept things together."
Latoya Miller's brother, Julius Coleman, testified that their mother was the matriarch of the family. He said he still despairs that he missed her last phone call to him, telling the judge that he couldn't take the call because he was still in church.
His wife was pregnant with their first child when his mother was killed, Coleman said, and one of the greatest tragedies of his life is that the woman who worked hard to raise him never got to see his children.
"To never see my mom play with my children, that's very depressing," he said. "We were devastated to lose our matriarch, someone who has done so much for us."
White cried as she read an apology to the family.
"I do want you to know I truly apologize for my careless actions. I don't want you to think I have no remorse," White said, saying she wished she had died instead of Patricia Miller and Brown. "I'm very sorry. I never want it to happen again."
Mother and son died at the scene of the March 31 collision in the 9200 block of Stagecoach Road in Little Rock, while Zavian Miller had to be airlifted to the hospital. White, who has never had a driver's license, was also seriously injured in the crash with leg injuries that required surgery.
Pleading for probation for White, defense attorney Jessica Duncan said her client has always been remorseful for causing the crash, calling the collision a "devastating and horrible tragedy," but still an accident.
"She has been punishing herself since she woke up in the hospital," Duncan told the judge.
Duncan said a defense expert disputed police findings about how fast White was driving when she hit Miller's vehicle head-on.
The defense estimated White was driving at most 9 mph faster than the 45 mph speed limit, Duncan said. Duncan said White, driving a borrowed 2004 GMC Trailblazer sport utility vehicle, crashed while trying to pass a vehicle on a curve. Police say White told investigators she was hurrying to get her hair done before church.
Metro on 03/17/2015