LITTLE ROCK — A Newport man whose pickup plowed hard into a Hardee's restaurant in 2006 and killed two former Newport school employees pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter Tuesday and was sentenced to 42 years in prison.
Gary W. Nicholson, 45, also pleaded guilty to four counts of felony second-degree battery, one count of felony criminal mischief, a misdemeanor third-degree battery charge and a driving-while-intoxicated charge in Lawrence County Circuit Court.
Nicholson's pleas came one week before a scheduled trial, said Prosecuting Attorney Henry Boyce of Newport.
Boyce credits a recently released toxicology report of Nicholson's blood at the time of the accident for Nicholson's plea. The report, issued Oct. 15 by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, indicated Nicholson had four times the amount of cocaine in his system needed by law for a driving-under-the- influence conviction.
"These ... findings would in my opinion further diminish the ability of Mr. Nicholson to safely operate a motor vehicle and add to the impairment that results from cocaine intoxication," Dr. Kim Edward Light wrote in the UAMS the report.
"That really sewed up our proof," Boyce said Tuesday. "I think that was what caused him to settle."
Police said Nicholson was traveling south on Arkansas 367 at 7 p.m. Sept. 5, 2006, when his 2001 GMC pickup careened off the road, bounced over a curband flattened a public telephone stand. The truck then traveled 85 feet, narrowly missing a portable building that dispensed ice cubes, before ramming into the east side of the restaurant.
Police estimated Nicholson's truck was traveling at least 75 mph when it hit the restaurant.
Beverly Tapp, 61, a retired English teacher, and Hilda Jane Wright, 67, a retired school secretary, died later that evening.
Carol Brand, 61, a former reading teacher; Linda Jane Parnell, 60, a former English teacher; Pat Brown, 57 a math teacher with the Newport school district; Levi Anders, 57, and Velma Johnson, 46, were injured. Anders and Johnson were not school employees.
The seven women were the only customers in the restaurant at the time; no employees were injured.
Nicholson was not injured.
The women met weekly at Newport restaurants to dine together, police said. The group met that night to celebrate Parnell's 60th birthday.
Nicholson had been on probation after he unwittingly sold cocaine to a Newport police officer in July 2006, Boyce said.
Officers were chasing several suspected drug offenders when one suspect dropped his cell phone. Within minutes the telephone rang and Newport patrol officer Ronald Laslo answered it. The caller, later determined to be Nicholson, asked for $80 worth of cocaine and told Laslo to meet him at a convenience store on the south side of town.
Nicholson was charged with criminal attempt to possess a controlled substance.
The deaths shocked the Jackson County town of 7,800, Boyce said. Nicholson's attorneys got his upcoming trial moved to Walnut Ridge to avoid pretrial publicity.
"We're glad we've brought this to a close in this matter," Boyce said. "The accident had a real impact way beyond just the people in the restaurant. Everyone knew these teachers. It was a real tragedy."
Boyce said he spoke with the surviving victims and families of those killed before agreeing to plead guilty and avoid a trial.
"Everyone agreed on this," he said. "We're glad we don't have to rehash this all in court and make the people relive what had happened."
Nicholson was sentenced to 10 years in prison on each county of felony manslaughter, six years each for three felony second-degree battery charges, two years for a felony second-degree battery charge, one year for a misdemeanor third-degree battery and one year for the misdemeanor driving while intoxicated.
Arkansas, Pages 9, 13 on 10/31/2007