 |
|
|
|
Nix’s early release nixed |
|
|
Tuesday, 06 January 2009 |
Tiffany Nix of Benton asked a Saline County judge Monday for early release from her 120-day sentence in the Saline County jail, saying she needed to take care of her 3-year-old daughter. The request was denied.
Circuit Judge Gary Arnold said Nix must serve out the remaining 30 days of her sentence.
On Sept. 28, 2004, Nix was driving a vehicle that struck and killed a 9-year-old Benton boy, William Isaac Brian.
Isaac, who was a fourth-grader at Salem Elementary School in Bryant, had just exited a school bus and made it across Northshore Drive in Benton when he was hit by Nix’s Jeep Grand Cherokee. He was pronounced dead a short time later at Saline Memorial Hospital.
An investigation following Nix’s arrest determined that Nix had opiates and am-phetamines in her system at the time of the accident.
In December 2005, Nix was convicted of manslaughter. She received 10 years of supervised probation and was ordered to serve one day a year for the next 10 years at an Arkansas Department of Correction facility as a reminder of Isaac’s death. She also was ordered to pay $5,694 in restitution toward the William Isaac Brian Scholarship Fund and to perform 400 hours of community service.
The case led the state Legislature to pass “Isaac’s Law” in 2005. The law enhances penalties for motorists who pass a stopped school bus. The law makes negligent homicide at a school bus stop a felony and includes mandatory license suspension for passing a school bus.
In October 2008, Nix was back in Saline County Circuit Court after Prosecuting Attorney KCasady asked Arnold to revoke her probation. Casady’s petition for revocation said that Nix failed to perform community service as directed and failed to cooperate with a work program adviser.
The petition said Nix had an obligation to complete 400 hours of community service at a rate of eight hours per month and noted that she was 85 hours behind when the revocation petition was filed July 29. The petition also said Nix had not complied with the court-ordered Arkansas Department of Correction prison tour by failing to report on time for her tour on Feb. 5, 2008. It also stated he did not complete the rescheduled tour on June 24, 2008, and that she failed to provide a required urine sample.
The petition refers to a July 12, 2008, incident in which Nix allegedly committed the offenses of leaving the scene of an accident, driving without a driver’s license and careless and prohibited driving. Trooper Quinn Best of the Arkansas State Police told Arnold and the court that he was attending a child’s birthday party at Bud’s Roller Rink in Benton when he observed Nix back into a parked vehicle, then pull her vehicle forward as the bumper of the parked vehicle was dragged off and onto the pavement by Nix’s vehicle. According to the trooper’s account, Nix sat in her vehicle for a time before leaving the scene.
Damage to the vehicle was estimated at $1,714, the petition states. Nix was cited by Benton police for leaving the scene of an accident, no driver’s license and careless and prohibited driving.
Best told the court that when Nix was stopped, she denied hitting a vehicle. Her lawyer, Robert Newcomb of Little Rock, said she was “unaware” of hitting the vehicle.
John A. Woolem, a state probation officer, previously said, when asked about the accident, that Nix was deceptive.
“I felt like she told me an outright lie,” Woolem said. “I told her I would file a petition to revoke her probation.”
Woolem and other probation officers reportedly told Arnold that Nix was given numerous opportunities to complete her mandated community service and ADC tour, but that she failed to comply. They also said Nix’s attitude was “negative” and that her obligation to community service “was not a priority to her.”
Nix told the judge that she hasn’t completed the eight hours of community service because of problems finding a babysitter for her children. Probation officers required that she serve her community service hours with the Habitat for Humanity Re-store for eight hours on one Saturday a month.
One probation officer said Nix asked to work Sunday hours. The Humane Society of Saline County was the only option for working community service on Sundays, the probation officer said, but Nix refused to work with the Humane Society, saying she did not like animals.
Newcomb refuted the notion that Nix didn’t like animals and said that she was willing to work with probation officers on her community service. Newcomb said she never was intentionally trying to not fulfill her commitment. A probation officer also said that Nix was given the opportunity to clean her office for community service hours, but that Nix “never showed up.”
Newcomb also argued that Nix should not be held responsible for the problems with her ADC tour. Nix reportedly drove to Newport for the ADC tour and was turned away after showing up late at the wrong gate; however, the defense said she was not properly instructed on what gate to appear. Nix was given a rescheduled ADC tour, but was unable to give a urine sample, which an intake officer said meant she was not able to take the tour. Newcomb said Nix has a problem with urinating under pressure and was not given the proper time or fluids to complete the process.
Newcomb also asked the judge to allow 68 hours of community service that Nix performed with the Saline Memorial Hospital Hospice program. Nix allegedly made “lap quilts” for hospice patients, but the probation officers said she was not given the OK to perform such duties at the time she turned in the blankets. The probation officers said the blankets were turned in after the recommendation for revocation.
Arnold later sentenced Nix to 120 days in the Saline County jail and ordered her to complete her community service hours. On Monday, with 30 days left of her sentence, Arnold denied early release.
In addition to reinstating the terms of her original probation, Arnold had ordered Nix in October to undergo psychiatric, drug and alcohol assessments.
He said if Nix has any difficulties or unpleasantness with any of his findings, “that’s your problem. If you can’t overcome these problems, the court will turn you over to the Arkansas Department of Correction.”
|
|
|
|
Razorbacks