POCAHONTAS -- A Pocahontas man pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of negligent homicide in a 2014 vehicle accident that killed a Randolph County woman.
Nicholas Derek Hopkins, 29, entered the plea in Randolph County Circuit Court and was sentenced to 15 years in prison, 3rd Judicial Circuit Prosecuting Attorney Henry Boyce said.
Hopkins also admitted to driving while under the influence when his vehicle ran off a road and killed passenger Amanda Byrley at 2:41 a.m. Aug. 2, 2014, on Pyburn Street in Pocahontas. Hopkins' vehicle crossed the left side of the road, went into a ditch and traveled 174 feet before striking a tree, police said.
Byrley was in the front passenger seat of Hopkins' car, a Pocahontas Police Department report said. An officer reported smelling a strong odor of intoxicants inside the car.
Byrley was pronounced dead at the scene. An unnamed passenger in the back seat was injured.
Hopkins remained in the Randolph County jail in Pocahontas on Wednesday while awaiting transfer to the Arkansas Department of Correction, Boyce said.
State Desk on 09/17/2015