Trucker involved in fatality sent to prison

TRENTON -- The Arkansas truck driver who pleaded guilty in March to motor vehicle homicide will spend at least six months in Nebraska's penitentiary.

Although the defense and the prosecution both recommended probation for 50-year-old James Watt II, of Everton, Ark., Hitchcock County District Judge David Urbom sentenced him to 12 months in the state pen for causing the death of Alan T. Roller, 59, of Champion, on the afternoon of Halloween 2006.

Urbom was bothered that Watt failed to meet with probation officers after he was ordered to do so during a court appearance in March.

Urbom ordered that Watt also serve 30 days for reckless driving and 30 days for falsifying duty records. All sentences will run concurrently.

Watt will be given credit for the 45 days he spent in the Hitchcock County jail following the accident in which Roller's pickup, eastbound on Highway 6, struck Watt's semi-tractor trailer rig broadside after Watt's rig, southbound on Highway 25, failed to stop at a stop sign at the intersection of Highways 6 and 25 north of Trenton and south of Hayes Center.

Before pronouncement of Watt's sentence, Hitchcock County Attorney D. Eugene Garner told Judge Urbom that the state would recommend probation on the motor vehicle charge, a straight sentence on the reckless driving charge and time served on the charge of falsifying duty records. Garner also asked for restitution to Roller's family and to the county for costs, ($1,640), associated with Roller's autopsy.

Watt's attorney, Hitchcock County public defender Ryan Wilcox, told the judge that he also recommended probation, explaining that Watt was no longer an over-the-road trucker because he is not eligible for a CDL (commercial driver's license).

"He made a mistake ... a terrible mistake. It's a tragedy," Wilcox said, but explained that, although this is a serious matter, he felt probation is appropriate.

Watt told Judge Urbom, quietly, "I'm sorry this all happened." He apologized to Roller's family.

Urbom told Watt that in determining his sentencing, he considered Watt's age, education, past criminal history (which includes fraudulent use of/