The man who crashed a stolen car into a mother and daughter while fleeing Little Rock police pleaded guilty to all charges in court Tuesday morning.
Jordan Matthew Vandenberghe, 25, stood in front of Circuit Judge Leon Johnson and pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, first-degree battery, felony fleeing and felony theft of property.
The judge sentenced him to 30 years imprisonment for the first two charges as well as 20 years for fleeing and 12 years for the theft charge. The sentences will run concurrently, and Vandenberghe will receive jail credit for 533 days served.
Defense attorney Leslie Borgognoni and prosecutor Ashley Bowen finalized the deal Tuesday morning, ending Vandenberghe’s trial the same day it began. Johnson dismissed the crowd of potential jurists who showed up to be winnowed down into a group of 12.
In the courtroom, Vandenberghe sat between his attorneys, occasionally adjusting the rolled-up sleeves on his light blue button-down shirt. At one point during a break, he slouched over and cried into his hands before a courtroom official passed him a box of tissues.
After Vandenberghe entered his plea, Bowen reviewed the reported facts of the fatal crash.
Police said that in September 2015, Vandenberghe drove a stolen car in the 10000 block of Chicot Road when he lost control while fleeing police. He hit another vehicle, and the impact sent his Maxima into a roll, hitting a mother and daughter who were jogging on a sidewalk, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette previously reported.
Their bodies were sent into a parked car, and Trendia Penn-Horton, 39, a mother of two, was killed. Her then-18-year-old daughter, Nahtali Dashundra Horton, was seriously injured.
Police said Vandenberghe ran from the car, which came to rest upside down, but was quickly apprehended. Authorities also said he had heroin on him, and that stolen credit cards and Social Security cards were found in his wallet. The drug charges were dropped in the final deal.
After Vandenberghe was sentenced, Horton took the stand and put a hand over her heart as she spoke about her mother, calling her a “tutor,” a “counselor” and a “best friend.”
“My son is going to grow up without his grandma. And that hurts,” she said.
Horton said they were out exercising the day her mother was killed because she was preparing for a cruise. They had a nightly ritual of going on walks, then watching Law & Order SVU together, she said.
“I’m blessed for the time I did have with her,” Horton said.
When asked if he would like to speak, Vandenberghe told the courtroom that he was sorry for his “foolish decision,” and there are no words he could say to bring Penn-Horton back.
“I didn’t mean to take a life. I wish it was my life I took instead,” he said.
Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
