Woman banned from driving before trial in fatal crash

A Pulaski County circuit judge Thursday forbade a Little Rock woman accused of killing a mother and son in a 2013 car crash from any driving before her trial after seeing evidence that the 22-year-old Maumelle woman has never had a driver's license.

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Judge Herb Wright was responding to complaints by prosecutors Erin Driver and Barbara Mariani that Ladrill Shawnta White had been seen driving a black Chevrolet Impala in June.

White is charged with second-degree battery and two counts of manslaughter in an Easter 2013 car crash in the 9200 block of Stagecoach Road in Little Rock that killed 49-year-old Patricia Ann Miller and her son, 26-year-old Blake Anthony Brown, and injured Miller's 9-year-old grandson, Zavian.

Wright warned White, who did not testify at Thursday's hearing, that he will jail her until her case is resolved if she's caught driving. She's scheduled for trial next month and faces a maximum sentence of 26 years in prison.

Prosecutors had asked that she be taken into custody for the safety of the community, given that there's no record she's ever had a driver's license. White has had a state-issued identification card since 2009, according to testimony at the hearing.

Prosecutors' evidence that White had driven a car since the crash was sketchy, defense attorney Jessica Duncan told the judge. Duncan asked that Wright allow her client to remain free on the $20,000 bond White posted in January about a week after she surrendered on Christmas Eve to face the charges.

Testifying for prosecutors was a family friend of the mother and son, Genifer Oliver, who said she saw White driving a black, 2000s-model Chevrolet Impala turning into the Popeye's restaurant on West Markham Street at lunchtime June 24. But Oliver acknowledged that she wasn't sure the driver was White until she learned from Miller's daughter, LaCora Shepard, that White was not still in jail.

On cross-examination, Oliver said she'd never seen White before the fatal crash but had seen her arrest photo and pictures on the Instagram photo-sharing service. She also acknowledged to having feuded with White on the social-networking site Facebook.

Testifying for White were her husband of one month, Mitchell Karrington Booth; mother Erica Graham; and cousin Teresa Jones Crawford. While Graham and Booth acknowledged that he owns a scratched-up silver 2005 Impala, all three told the judge that White hasn't driven since the crash and that she has to rely on them for all of her transportation.

At the time of the crash, White was on probation for a felony theft conviction for participating in an August 2012 snatch-and-run robbery at Beauty Rock store on North Rodney Parham Road. The robbery charge was dropped in exchange for White pleading guilty to the theft charge; promising to testify against her co-defendant, Alexis Shawon Perry, 24, of Little Rock; and accepting five years of probation with a $2,500 fine.

Court filings show White was in the driver seat of Perry's 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix when Perry, White's roommate, went into the beauty supply store and ran out with a hair weave and eyelashes. Perry bit store owner Jinhun Jung when he and his wife tried to get their merchandise back and stop the pair from leaving, court records show. White also scuffled with Jung, court records show.

Perry pleaded guilty in February 2013 to misdemeanor battery and theft, reduced from robbery, in exchange for one year of probation, 30 days in jail and a $2,500 fine, according to court records.

In the manslaughter case, prosecutors told the judge that White, who was living in Sherwood at the time, was driving 40 mph over the 45 mph speed limit on the rain-wet street when she struck Miller's black 1997 Ford Lumina head on. The Miller car was traveling at 41 mph, police said.

According to police reports, White was driving a 2004 GMC Trailblazer sport utility vehicle belonging to David O'Neal of Little Rock when she changed lanes to pass a car she was behind, crossed into oncoming traffic and hit the Miller car, killing mother and son, who were on their way to Easter services with Miller's grandson.

White suffered leg injuries and was hospitalized. She told police that she was in a hurry to get her hair done before church started, according to an arrest affidavit.

Metro on 09/12/2014

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