Six-year sentence given for wreck that injured girl

Judge says LR driver learned lesson, but still accountable

A Little Rock man who disfigured a 6-year-old girl in a drunken-driving car wreck was sentenced to six years in prison on Monday.

At the sentencing hearing the day after his 34th birthday, Matthew Kent Hyde apologized to the parents of Desirea Nichole Arras for the scars he inflicted on her in the April 14, 2015, head-on car crash on Singley Road in Pulaski County.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Herb Wright imposed the six-year sentence -- one year more than prosecutors requested -- saying that while Hyde appears to be overcoming his drug and alcohol addictions, the defendant still must be held accountable for what he did to the girl, now 8.

She did not come to court Monday but prosecutors showed the judge photographs of her from after the crash.

"I'm convinced of his sincerity and rehabilitation," Wright said. "But the [prosecutors] are right. There has to be some accountability and responsibility."

Hyde's vehicle crossed the center line and collided with the car driven by the child's father, Justin Lee Arras, 29, of Little Rock, and carrying the girl and her 4-year-old brother, Dillan. The girl had to be taken by helicopter to the hospital to be treated for her injuries, court filings show.

Her mother, Autumn Sky Arras, 29, of Mabelvale testified that Desirea still has scars on her forehead from the crash, despite two surgeries. A third surgery is pending, and the girl is likely to need more over the coming years, Arras said.

Hyde pleaded guilty last month to first-degree battery and misdemeanor second-offense driving while intoxicated. Telling Wright that he is a changed man, working hard to maintain his sobriety after years of substance abuse problems, Hyde had asked for probation or a jail sentence that would allow him to keep his landscaping job and continue to provide for his two children.

Deputy prosecutor Sara Cowan asked the judge to send Hyde to prison for five years, the minimum sentence.

She acknowledged that Hyde appears to have turned his life around by getting treatment for his drug and alcohol addictions along with counseling and medication for his bipolar disorder, a condition that was not diagnosed until after the crash.

Prosecutors commend what he's done to get his life under control, Cowan said.

But he had opportunities to overcome his personal problems before the crash, as far back as 2011 when he got his first drunken-driving conviction, she said. He had already been through rehab before, but relapsed to the point where he got behind the wheel of a car while intoxicated, she said. Cowan also questioned the timing of Hyde's treatment and therapy, coming as it did when he knew he had seriously hurt a child and could be sent to prison for it.

Hyde must be held accountable for what he did to the girl, Cowan told the judge. He will have opportunities to continue his recovery process in prison, she said.

"There's now an 8-year-old girl who's suffered a grievous injury," the prosecutor said. "If he's really serious about [Alcoholics Anonymous], he'll be serious about it when he gets out."

Defense attorney Bill James asked for Hyde to remain at liberty, saying his drug and alcohol problem was likely an effort for him to self-medicate the mental condition he's had all of his life but did not know about until the past year.

James said probation could be more effective than prison because that sentence would keep the spectre of incarceration over Hyde's head if he failed to successfully complete probation.

Hyde told the judge that the medication he's taking for his bipolar condition has "completely changed his life," saying that for years he rotated between the "highest highs" when he would be social, gregarious and outgoing, and deep depression.

"I'd had the lowest lows where I didn't get out of bed. I didn't eat and I didn't bathe," he told the judge.

Hyde has also been living in a Recovery Directions halfway house for the past year, testifying earlier that he had no plans to leave soon because he still needs the structure the program provides. He said he works to counsel new arrivals at the residence and to attend counseling sessions offered by the program.

Hyde told the judge before his sentencing that regardless of what Wright decided, he is dedicated to staying clear of drugs and alcohol.

"I don't know if I'll ever be cured of alcoholism," he told the judge before his sentencing. "I'm on the path to sobriety whatever happens today, whatever [in life] goes wrong."

NW News on 06/08/2017

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