NEWPORT -- A Newport man has pleaded guilty in Jackson County Circuit Court to three counts of negligent homicide in a 2012 fatal traffic accident and one count of possessing a controlled substance with intent to deliver in a subsequent case, said Third Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Henry Boyce.
Kevin Thomas Long, 37, was sentenced Monday to 40 years in prison. He was scheduled for trial in circuit court today in Newport, Boyce said.
Police said Long, who was driving a dump truck loaded with rocks, crossed the centerline of Arkansas 226 in Jackson County on Oct. 23, 2012. He struck a 2001 Nissan X-Terra SUV driven by Andrea Benham of Imboden. The SUV was dragged 100 feet after the collision, Boyce said.
Benham, her passenger Felicia Davis of Imboden and Davis' 31-week-old unborn child were killed in the crash. Benham's two small children, secured in child-safety seats in the back, were injured.
A blood test examined by the state Crime Laboratory in Little Rock indicated that Long had intoxicating amounts of marijuana and methamphetamine in his system at the time of the crash.
Long was working with a Swifton company to haul rocks to a highway construction site.
In March 2013, police reported arresting Long after finding 43 grams of methamphetamine in his vehicle during a traffic stop.
"That was an egregious nature of this case," Boyce said. "He apparently took no remorse, heed or caution to quit using meth after the accident."
Lohnes Tiner, a Harrisburg attorney who represented Long, did not return a telephone message Tuesday.
State Desk on 01/28/2015