A Hot Springs man pleaded guilty Monday to negligent homicide in connection with the death of a passenger in his vehicle in 2016 while he was driving while intoxicated and wrecked.
Austin Tilmon Meeks, 22, who was set to stand trial July 11, appeared in Garland County Circuit Court with his court-appointed attorney, Shane Ethridge, to enter his plea to the felony charge, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and was sentenced to six years' supervised probation and ordered to pay $1,000 in restitution to the family of the victim, Dayton K. Garner, 22, and $170 in court costs.
Meeks was arrested Sept. 20, 2016, after an Arkansas State Police investigation into the April 10, 2016, one-vehicle wreck on Highway 192 north of Mountain Pine in which Garner was killed.
Ethridge had filed a motion Feb. 3, 2017, to suppress the results of a blood test that showed Meeks was legally intoxicated at the time of the wreck, but Judge John Homer Wright denied the motion on Aug. 2, 2017, after a review.
Meeks was originally set to stand trial Aug. 31, 2017, but at a pretrial hearing on Aug. 28, Ethridge requested a mental evaluation for Meeks which stayed any further court proceedings until the mental evaluation could be completed. On Nov. 20, 2017, Meeks was ruled fit to proceed and his trial was rescheduled for this year.
According to the affidavit, shortly after 12:15 a.m. on April 10, Trooper Brandon Margis responded to the wreck, which involved a 2008 Chevrolet pickup reportedly westbound on Highway 192 when the driver, identified as Meeks, failed to negotiate a curve and left the roadway.
He lost control after overcorrecting, sending his vehicle across both lanes of traffic to the south side of the roadway. The vehicle collided into trees, ejecting both Meeks and his passenger, identified as Garner.
Garner was pronounced dead at the scene by Garland County Coroner Stuart Smedley. A fatality report noted there was light rain falling, and the roadway was wet.
Meeks was transported to CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs where Margis made contact with him, read him his rights and requested a blood sample. Meeks consented and a sample was taken at 3:10 a.m. and sent to the state crime lab in Little Rock for testing.
Margis later received the crime lab toxicology report, which showed Meeks' blood alcohol content to be 0.11 percent, over the legal limit of 0.08 percent.
On July 18, 2016, prosecutors filed a motion to obtain Meeks' medical records from St. Vincent. On July 29, ASP Special Agent Russ Rhodes received the medical records which showed Meeks' ethanol level was 0.017 percent, more than twice the legal limit. The medical records did not indicate what time his blood was collected for ethanol testing.
A warrant was issued for Meeks' arrest and he was taken into custody on Sept. 20 and later released on $2,500 bond.
Local on 05/22/2018