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| For involuntary manslaughter of Bassett woman |
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Tuesday, January 13, 2009
By KIM BARTO - Bulletin Staff Writer
As Judge G. Carter Greer sentenced Robert Andrew Harris on Monday to serve one year in jail for involuntary manslaughter, Greer called the case “tragic.”
“I don’t think the court has ever seen a sadder case than this,” Greer said.
Harris, 26, of Stuart, pleaded guilty in October to unintentionally killing Wilma Gaye Clark, who died at age 55 after Harris’ pickup struck her Kia Rio while she was making a left turn off Virginia 57 in Bassett. Witnesses estimated Harris was driving between 90 and 100 miles per hour just before the wreck on March 11.
“The sheer stupidity of the defendant took the life of a remarkable woman who made a difference in this world. That is very obvious to the court,” Greer said during the sentencing hearing.
“Also apparent is that Mr. Harris is genuinely remorseful,” as shown by his demeanor and words, the judge added.
Admitting that “no period of incarceration, of course, is sufficient to stand for the life of a person,” Greer imposed a 10-year sentence with nine years suspended if Harris meets the conditions of his probation.
Harris will serve five years’ probation after he is released from jail and also will have to pay $4,339.84 in restitution and a $1,500 fine, the judge ruled.
Before handing down the sentence, Greer asked Harris if there was anything he wanted to say. Harris, wearing a maroon shirt, black pants and patterned tie, answered, “I just want to apologize one more time. I wish it could’ve been me and not her (Clark).”
Harris blew a kiss to several relatives seated in the gallery as he left the courtroom, including his wife, Jill, and his mother, Sandra Harris, who both started crying.
Clark’s only daughter, Marci Martin, said she thought the sentence was fair “maybe for (Harris), but not for his family.”
However, she added, “He made his choice, driving that way.”
The sentencing “doesn’t make me happy, but it’s a relief for it to be over,” said Martin, who testified during the hearing.
Going to court multiple times means “you have to keep revisiting it all the time. It feels like going to repeated funerals,” she said.
And the fact that her mother did not die of natural causes makes it even harder, Martin added.
“It’s not like she was old and passed away. It’s very hard to deal with,” she said.
After the sentencing, Sandra Harris said, “We knew he would have to serve time.” However, she added about her son, “He’s punished himself.”
Robert Andrew “Drew” Harris took the stand during the hearing, as did his mother and wife.
Martin also spoke during the hearing on behalf of dozens of Clark’s relatives and friends sitting in the gallery. She described her mother as “my best friend,” who inspired Martin to enter the medical field as a physical therapist.
Clark, a registered nurse, worked at Blue Ridge Nursing “for quite a while” and “did special things for everybody,” Martin said. She recalled one patient who had no family or money, so Clark went out and “bought him hair clippers so she could cut his hair, because he couldn’t afford it.”
Clark was severely injured in the collision, but she was alive when rescuers arrived. Martin cried as she described her mother’s death, which occurred a few hours after the wreck.
In the middle of Martin’s description, defense attorney Chris Corbett asked for a recess because Drew Harris felt nauseated and needed to go to the rest room. Greer granted a 10-minute recess, after which Martin continued her testimony.
“In health care, we have a pain scale, with 0 being no pain, and 10 being the worst pain you can imagine. She said her pain was a 10,” Martin said. “To know that she said that was one of the hardest things.”
Martin said she has to drive by the accident scene about once a week, which is “just a big fat reminder.” Her 2-year-old son, Kaiden, “still asks to go to Mimi’s house,” which was his name for his grandmother, she said.
Martin said her 28th birthday fell a couple of days after Clark’s death.
“What did you do for your birthday last year?” Commonwealth’s Attorney Bob Bushnell asked her.
“I planned my mom’s funeral,” she said.
She finished by showing the judge a photo album of her mother, which Harris and his attorney also viewed. Harris put a hand over his mouth and appeared to be blinking back tears as he looked at them.
When Drew Harris took the stand, Bushnell asked him what he will do with his life. Harris, who has two young children, answered that he wants to “raise my babies” and “stay out of trouble.”
Bushnell went on to ask: “What will you do to make amends? What are you going to do for society?”
Asked if he does volunteer work, Harris said he does not. Bushnell urged him to think of some way to give back for the death he caused.
“You have some strengths and talents to contribute something to the human race, which you have diminished by removing one of its finest members,” Bushnell told him.
“You can’t put her back. You can’t fill her shoes. But I certainly hope when you are released from incarceration, you commit yourself to helping others,” he added.
During his testimony, Drew Harris said he thinks about the crash “every single day, every hour, every time I look at my family, every time I close my eyes.”
“I was driving reckless, and I took somebody’s life. I wish it could’ve been my own instead of Ms. Clark’s,” he said. “I am sorry from the bottom of my heart.”
The evening of March 11, Harris said he had told his wife he was going out to buy cigarettes. However, he actually drove to Martinsville to buy pants and stop at a fast-food restaurant, he said. On the way back, his cell phone started ringing.
“It was my wife, asking where I was ... so I started speeding,” Harris said, adding that he passed two sets of cars.
Harris also admitted lying to State Trooper Brad Lane about his speed at the time of the collision. He originally said he was traveling between 55 and 60 miles per hour as he passed two cars on Virginia 57, then changed his estimate to up to 70 miles per hour.
“You were going faster than 70, weren’t you?” Bushnell asked Harris.
“Yes, sir,” Harris said.
Lane, who responded to the accident, testified during the hearing that witnesses driving 63 mph in the 55 mph speed limit zone said when Harris passed them, he drove so fast it was “like they were sitting still.”
Harris said he had been laid off a week before the wreck, and his doctor told him at that time that he needed to “get my medications regulated and probably get on disability” rather than seek another job, he said.
Jill Harris, 26, said her husband was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, agoraphobia, sleeping and anxiety disorders and has been seeing a Danville psychiatrist since February, the month before the wreck. Drew Harris was taking four medications, she added.
Before the accident, “he was fun to be around,” she said. “He had his sad moments, but he would joke with me, play with the kids.”
Since March, however, “He just sits downstairs; sometimes he watches TV; sometimes he just stares off into space,” she said.
In response to a question from Bushnell, Jill Harris said she plans to stay with her husband.
Sandra Harris said the couple and their children have been living in an apartment in her house, helping to raise three grandchildren of whom she has custody.
Since the collision, she said, “There are times when I come home from work, and I’m afraid he’s done something to himself because he feels so depressed” and “feels so badly about the wreck.”
Sandra Harris, also a registered nurse at Blue Ridge Nursing, said she did not know Clark personally.
Attorneys on both sides called the situation a tragedy in their closing remarks.
Harris’ attorney, Chris Corbett, said his client “has done nothing but accept every bit of responsibility for this.”
Corbett told the court that despite the sadness of the case, “this is not a habit for him,” and this was Harris’ first time in a courtroom.
Bushnell called the wreck “horrible” but also avoidable.
However, he added, “is (Harris) a terrible, terrible person who deserves to have his life crushed? No.” Clark’s family understands that “crushing him will not give them another moment with this ... truly saintly person he has killed,” Bushnell said.
Bushnell said the sentence was “good” and “reasonable.”
“We respect the court’s decision. We know it was a difficult decision in this tragic case,” Corbett said afterward.
The sentencing originally was slated for Thursday but was rescheduled when Judge David V. Williams withdrew due to a personal conflict in the case. It was arranged for Greer, who presides over Martinsville Circuit Court, to handle the hearing Monday. |
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