Sentencing follows guilty plea in 2002 accident

By Daniel Bartel/Times Record News
April 21, 2004

A Wichita Falls woman on Tuesday pleaded guilty to hitting a 12-year-old girl with her pickup truck two years ago in northern Archer County.

Deborah Hughes, 38, was convicted of one count of reckless endangerment of a child for her part in an accident involving a parked school bus in Scotland.

Hughes failed to yield to the bus, which was dropping off children at a Scotland residence, according to Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper reports.

A jury at the 97th District Court in Archer City sentenced Hughes to 10 years imprisonment. Roger Williams, Hughes' attorney, sought a plea bargain in hopes of reducing the punishment.

Candice Jackson, of Scotland, attended the trial with her family on Tuesday and read aloud a victim impact statement.

"My family and I suffered so much on that day and we are still suffering," Jackson said, reading from the statement. "This has been the most challenging thing that I have ever had to overcome."

A plea bargain was the best option, given the amount of evidence against Hughes, Archer County District Attorney Tim Cole said.

"There was no question she was the driver," Cole said. "There were quite a few witnesses at the scene when it happened."

A blood sample taken from Hughes revealed traces of methamphetamine in her system, he said.

Hughes was arrested days after the injury accident to Jackson on Sept. 13, 2002. She bonded out and was living with a relative in Wichita Falls, Cole said.

Trooper reports said that Hughes's pickup truck swerved to the right, drove into a ditch and hit the bus behind the front right wheel well.

After hitting the bus, the pickup spun around and struck Jackson, according to reports.

Jackson was then flown to Children's Hospital in Dallas later than evening. Jackson, now 14, has spent the last two years in recovery, Williams said.

Reckless injury to a child is a first-degree felony, and punishable from five to 99 years in prison if convicted, he said.

Williams pleaded the charge down to a second-degree felony, punishable from two to 10 years.

Otherwise, Hughes would have faced a significant punishment if the case had gone before a jury trial, he said.

Regional reporter Daniel Bartel can be reached at (940) 720-3495 or by e-mail at barteld(at)TimesRecordNews.com.

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