HOT SPRINGS -- A man was sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty in Garland County Circuit Court to felony charges in a fatal hit-and-run in 2015.
Brett Alan Emmett, 53, of Hot Springs appeared before Judge Marcia Hearnsberger on Jan. 10, pleading guilty to manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident involving personal injury or death.
Emmett was sentenced to 25 years on the manslaughter charge and 15 years for leaving the scene, with the sentences to run concurrently. He also was ordered to pay $170 in court costs upon his release, with other costs waived for time served.
According to the affidavit, state police responded at 12:10 a.m. April 30, 2015, to where a dead person lying in a ditch on the north side of U.S. 270, east of Henning Lane.
The victim, Jennifer Willett, 36, had been located by her son, who said she had left their residence to walk to the Royal Shell Store around 8 p.m., the affidavit said. She called her son while walking to the store around 8:15 p.m. but never returned, so he walked to the store and found her lying in the ditch, according to the affidavit.
Willett appeared to have been walking westbound on the north shoulder of U.S. 270 when she was struck by a westbound vehicle that left the scene, the affidavit said.
State Desk on 01/24/2017