LITTLE ROCK — A 23-year-old Searcy woman who said no court-ordered punishment could be worse than the guilt she’s suffered for killing a Little Rock man in a drunken-driving crash was sentenced to six years in prison with three years suspended Tuesday.
“I don’t think any punishment is as bad as the punishment I’ve done to myself,” Annalee Elizabeth “Libby” Clark testified in a bid for probation instead of incarceration, saying she hoped to set an example for others through public speaking. “I would like to reach as many people as possible. If I can prevent just one person from going through what the [ victim’s] family is going through, it’s worth it.”
Clark pleaded guilty to felony negligent homicide in May and faced a maximum of 10 years in prison at Tuesday’s sentencing for the May 2009 collision that killed 42-year-old Andres Vazquez in west Little Rock. Clark’s blood-alcohol level was 0.12, 1 1 /2 times the legal limit, testified Little Rock police officer Scott Dettmer, who investigated the collision.
Clark also tested positive for marijuana and prescription medication, and drug paraphernalia was found in her crashed white 2007 Volvo, Dettmert said.
Clark testified that her anguish over killing Vazquez led her to twice attempt suicide and intensified the depression that she’s felt since the 2000 death of her father. Her condition that had been compounded by post partum depression after the November 2008 birth of her daughter, she said.
“I couldn’t live with myself knowing I had taken someone’s life. I felt like taking my own life was the only way to even the score, so to speak,” Clark told Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza. “I felt like this was the only way to make sense of all this. I felt so disappointed with myself.My heart broke for his family because I know what it’s like to lose someone in your immediate family.”
Clark’s father was reportedly killed at age 41 in an construction accident in South Africa. Libby Clark said she only began to overcome her depression and focus on being a better mother and a person after completing a month-long substance abuse treatment program in Mississippi. She said her worst fear about prison was that her daughter might forget her.
Her attorney, Winston Collier, called for mercy for his client, telling the judge that since Vazquez didn’t have any relatives at Tuesday’s sentencing, Piazza should consider Clark as the person “who seems most connected to [Vazquez’] loss.” Deputy prosecutor Kelly Ward disputed that characterization, saying Vazquez’ brother had attended court hearings, but that he had been having financial difficulties and prosecutors couldn’t find him to bring him to the sentencing hearing.
The court’s duty is to represent Vazquez, Piazza said as he ordered a six-year prison term with three years suspended. The judge noted Clark’s remorse but said that crimes like Vazquez’ killing need punishments that can deter others.
“There has to be consequences,” Piazza said.
Looking at photographs of the heavily damaged cars, the judge said he was also concerned by the “tremendous force” of the crash in the 15500 block of Kanis Road, which suggested Clark was driving at high speeds during a rain storm. Clark might be concerned with being a good mother to her 20-month-old daughter now, he said, but she didn’t appear to be thinking about her little girl when she crashed into Vazquez, Piazza said.
“Anybody who’s driven on that road knows how dangerous it is,” he said.
Th e impact knocked Vazquez’ white 1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass off the roadway. Clark was returning to her Gamble Road apartment after enjoying a mid-afternoon brunch with friends at Ya Ya’s Euro Bistro on Chenal Parkway where she’d consumed two martinis before driving, Clark testified on Tuesday. She’d smoked marijuana the night before the crash, she said. She was hospitalized for five days after the crash, suffering a broken foot, a broken hand and a brain injury.
Family friend Austin Brashears and Clark’s grandmother, Lee Jones, also urged Piazza for mercy, saying that Clark was tormented by Vazquez’ death.
“Libby has essentially kept herself in prison since it occurred to her she had taken the life of another human being,” Jones said. “Anything the court can do to her will not come close to what she’s done to herself.”
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 06/30/2010