LITTLE ROCK — An Alma man acted recklessly but was not proven to have intentionally caused damage in a fatal highway crash, the state Court of Appeals said Wednesday.
The court upheld Steven Ross Jr.’s negligent homicide and battery convictions in Crawford County Circuit Court, but reversed his conviction on a criminal mischief charge.
According to testimony at his trial, Ross was driving northbound on Arkansas 59 when his Yukon swerved into the southbound lane, sideswiped a Jeep driven by Jennifer Berger of Barling then collided head-on with a pickup driven by Richard Kalesh, 52, of Paris. Kalesh was killed and a passenger in Kalesh’s vehicle suffered a back injury.
Ross testified he had smoked marijuana with a friend and had taken Xanax before the October 2009 wreck. He said he had no memory of the accident.
Prosecutors argued Ross deliberately caused the damage to the Jeep.
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He was sentenced to 20 years for the negligent homicide conviction, eight years for the criminal mischief conviction and six years for the battery conviction, to run consecutively.
On Wednesday, a three-judge appeals court panel concluded evidence was insufficient for the criminal mischief conviction.
“Although there is abundant evidence in the present case to show that (Ross) was acting recklessly, there is nothing to show that he acted with the purpose of damaging Ms. Berger’s Jeep,” Judge John Mauzy Pittman wrote in the unanimous decision.