FAYETTEVILLE -- A Washington County Circuit Court jury found a young man guilty of a lesser charge of negligent homicide Wednesday and sentenced him to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine in connection with a fatal 2013 crash.
Kenneth Cole Sizemore, 22, was driving the vehicle west on Wedington Drive when he over-corrected after crossing the center line and hit a curb, causing the vehicle to go back across both lanes then roll, according to police records. The accident happened about 11:45 p.m. Jan. 12, 2013, in front of Ozarks Electric Cooperative, 3641 Wedington Drive. Police contended Sizemore was "huffing" at the time.
Legal Lingo
Negligent Homicide
The killing of another person through gross negligence or without malice. It often includes death that is the result of the negligent operation of a motor vehicle. It is characterized as a death caused by conduct that grossly deviated from ordinary care. Negligent homicide may be charged as a lesser-included offense of manslaughter.
Source: uslegal.com
Zachary Tyler Hagan of Fayetteville was 20 when he died. Hagan wasn't wearing his seat belt and was ejected from the vehicle, according to police. He was a student at the University of Arkansas and a Springdale High School graduate.
Griffith Smith, 20, of West Fork was also a passenger in the vehicle, police said. Smith was treated for minor injuries.
Sizemore was charged with manslaughter and faced up to 10 years in prison.
"An accident happened, a tragedy, and a young man is dead," Jim Evans, Sizemore's attorney told jurors.
Family members cried and hugged Sizemore in the courtroom after the negligent homicide verdict was returned.
Danny Sanders, a toxicologist with the Arkansas State Crime Lab, testified a blood test showed Sizemore had Difluoroethane, Oxycodone, Alprazolam and marijuana in his system at the time of the wreck. Difluoroethane is used in canned air and is commonly "huffed" in order to get high, according to Sizemore's arrest report. Two air dusters were found at the scene of the crash, another was later found in the vehicle at the wrecking yard.
A receipt found on Hagan showed three cans were bought at 11:33 p.m. at Walmart on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard just minutes before the crash on Wedington.
Sizemore said Wednesday he hadn't done any drugs in the days leading up to the fatal crash. He said Hagan sprayed an air duster in his face, causing him to lose control of the vehicle.
"I swiped the can away and jumped the curb," Sizemore said. "It jerked me into oncoming traffic. I tried to get back on my side."
Sizemore initially denied the three had stopped at Walmart. Sizemore denied "huffing" and told police he was driving but lost control after hitting a patch of ice. Police said it was cold but there was no ice on the road that night. He also did not tell police he was sprayed in the face.
"I didn't want the situation to look worse than it was," Sizemore said. "I failed to tell them about it, I didn't lie."
When asked how he felt when a police officer told him Hagan was dead, Sizemore said "worst day of my life."
The defense contended any drugs in Sizemore's system came from second-hand spray from the dusters and from an injection he was given at the hospital before a blood sample was taken.
An Arkansas State Trooper said the black box in a 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe recorded the vehicle going about 75 mph when it rolled. The speed limit on that section of road is 45 mph.
Trooper Bobby Clemence, an accident reconstruction expert, said the Tahoe's black box showed the brakes weren't engaged in the last 2.5 seconds before it began to roll and the throttle was 100 percent engaged. It showed Sizemore's seat belt was engaged but Hagan's seat belt wasn't.
Jack McQuary, a special prosecutor, was appointed to prosecute the case after prosecutors in Washington County declared a conflict.
"He caused a wreck that killed a man. It's that simple," McQuary told jurors. "As a result of his own decisions, his own actions, Zachary Hagan is no longer among us."
Zachary Hagan was the son of Bret Hagan, a detective with the Washington County Sheriff's Office who has worked closely with prosecutors for several years.
NW News on 02/19/2015