The jury sentencing began Wednesday in Garland County Circuit Court for a local woman who pleaded guilty Tuesday to multiple charges stemming from her drunken rampage through a gated subdivision on Halloween night 2013.
The prosecution rested its case at 5:30 p.m. against Twila Gail Watson, 29, who had pleaded guilty to four felony counts of aggravated assault, two felony counts of second-degree battery and a misdemeanor count of driving while intoxicated with an eight-woman, four-man jury impaneled to decide her sentence.
"An evening that started out with trick-or-treating, lights and fun quickly turned into a scene from a horror movie, with blood-curdling screams and lives forever changed because of this woman," Chief Deputy Prosecutor Michelle Lawrence told the jury, noting she intended to ask for the maximum sentence and fine "for her decisions and actions that night."
Dale Adams, Watson's court appointed attorney, said Watson had "owned up to what happened that night," noting she was "severely intoxicated" and that "her life was spiraling out of control" with several recent deaths in the family and her being pregnant again.
He said Watson had argued that night with her boyfriend while trick-or-treating with her two young children and he had got out and left her behind the wheel of an unfamiliar car. "She didn't know where she was or where she was going and events started to occur one after the other," he said, noting, she made "bad decision after bad decision."
He said she lost custody of her children, although she has since got them back. "She is very much afraid of what's going to happen to her," Adams said, and urged the jury to decide "what is just punishment, not vengeance, but what is justice?"
The incident began between 6:30 and 7 p.m. in the area of Quail Ridge Drive and Covey Rise Trail as residents of the subdivision, as they did every year, opened up the gates to allow the public to trick or treat in the neighborhood.
Sheila Huddleston, of Hot Springs, testified she was there trick-or-treating with her son, 11, and her boyfriend, Mike Mayberry, who was pulling a trailer with hay bales for the children to ride on as he had done for the last several years.
She said her son was dressed as a Minion, a popular animated movie character, and was sewn into his costume which limited his mobility and vision. She said she was sitting on the back of the trailer when she heard and then saw a car approaching fast headed straight toward their trailer.
She said her son and another boy were between the oncoming car and the trailer and her son wasn't paying attention so she screamed "Move!" and her son was just able to get out of the way with the car missing him by inches.
Jennifer Rowton, who was the most seriously injured, testified she was trick-or-treating with her daughter and son-in-law, Sheena and Nathan Sanders, her two younger children and her grandson along with several other friends.
She said there was "a sea of people like at the fair" all along the streets and sidewalks and they were walking along when they heard people screaming, "Get out of the way!" and heard "the roar of a car like a jet engine."
She said a silver car, driven by Watson, "flew past us" as children scrambled to get out of the street and then they heard a crash like she had hit something. But then the car came back, heavily damaged, and she said she ran over to the driver's window to talk to Watson.
"I asked if she was OK and the smell of alcohol coming from the car would just about knock you down," she said, noting Watson "had a wild look in her face and eyes" and that Watson told her she "just needed to get out of there."
Rowton, noticing Watson had two small children in her back seat, told her she would help to direct her out as she reached inside to try to get her keys and stop the car. She said Watson "stomped the gas pedal" moving suddenly in reverse with Rowton's arm trapped inside.
She said Watson was backing straight toward a yard where they had moved many of the children so she grabbed the wheel to steer her back the other way. The wheel caught her foot and pulled her under the car, she said, crushing her legs.
Then Watson put the car in drive and pulled forward, running over her hips and then backed up again, crushing her a third time and "rolling my foot over my shoulder. I thought she had ripped me in half. I was in so much pain."
She said her one thought was to try to keep her head and upper body from being crushed as she ended up facedown on the pavement. She said people were screaming and "it was like a movie scene from a terrorist attack."
She said her main concern was "I didn't know what I looked like at that point and didn't want my kids to see," she said.
Nathan Sanders testified he "dove in the window" trying to grab the keys and she drove off again, with him hanging out of the window as she began hitting him with her fists. He said, "It's a blur after that" as the car struck a parked Honda Pilot, throwing him across the asphalt into a nearby yard.
Rowton sustained multiple injuries and has since undergone several surgeries with five more pending. She spent about six months in a wheelchair and it was a year before she could walk again unassisted, she said, noting she has to wear a belt to "keep my pelvis pulled together" and has to have help to get in and out of bed.
Sanders, besides severe road rash all over his body, suffered a permanent injury to his middle finger, which was nearly amputated, and even after surgery he noted it is "super sensitive" which impacts his job as an electrician daily.
He said his stepson was traumatized, noting, "He had to run for his life, he saw his grandmother get run over, he saw me dragged down the road. No 4-year-old should have to go through that."
Christy Ward testified she and her son, 4, were sitting in the back of the Honda Pilot when Watson rammed the front, "sending both of us flying through the air like Superman." She said she was holding Jack and tried to shield him as they landed, but his head struck the pavement. Fortunately, they both sustained only road rash, she said.
Even after hitting all those people, Ward said Watson started the car again and sped off "as fast as she could." She returned moments later and everyone was concerned she was going to hit Rowton who was still lying in the road.
Mayberry moved his vehicle to pull the trailer in front so Watson slammed into it instead of hitting Rowton. Ward said Watson was "screaming and yelling and cursing at everyone."
Mayberry said he put Watson in a headlock and told her, "Don't move or I'll break your neck," noting, "I don't know how her car was still running at that point." He said Watson asked him, "Why is everyone treating me like this?
Hot Springs police Lt. Larry Patrick, who lives in the subdivision, testified he started chasing Watson in his vehicle after a neighbor had yelled at him about what was going on. He said the streets were lined with parked cars and "she was bouncing off them in her car like a pinball with parents and kids diving out of the way."
He said he got in the front seat after she finally crashed for the last time and told her he was a police officer. He said she told him, "You're not the real f - - - - - - police!" and continued to fight. He said he put handcuffs on her and told her, "That's a real f - - - - - - handcuff" and finally got her out of the car.
Garland County sheriff's Cpl. Robbie Swinney testified he took Watson into custody and took a blood draw from her at the hospital. The blood sample was sent to the Arkansas Health Department which later determined her blood alcohol content was 0.31 percent, almost four times the legal limit.
The sentencing hearing is scheduled to resume today at 8:30 a.m. with Judge Marcia Hearnsberger presiding. Deputy Prosecutor Trent Daniels is also representing the state.
Local on 04/21/2016