The terrible story of Jerrod and Allen
By By Suzanne Monk / managing editor
March 30, 2003
I'm going to tell you this story as it lives with me, in a series of images and impressions, as if someone snapped the shutter of a camera to illuminate one night the night Russell Allen Carr Jr. lived and his friend, Jerrod Heath Haguewood, died.
Allen and Jerrod and some friends set out to find a party in Toomsuba one Saturday night in March 2002. They took beer because they planned to end up at the Midnight Sun, an after-hours club on B Street.
Allen couldn't find the party, so his group went on to the Midnight Sun, shutting the place down about 4 a.m. Sunday morning. Allen was driving his Ford Explorer because it had four doors and more seats than anybody else's car. He dropped some people off after he left the club.
As he turned homeward, there were only three people left in the Explorer Allen, Jerrod and another passenger.
The accident happened a few minutes later, on a dark curve on Vimville-Causeyville Road. The Explorer careened back and forth across the road, finally overturning. Allen and one passenger survived. Jerrod was killed.
Allen's blood alcohol content was .102.
When he was indicted for DUI manslaughter in July 2002, Allen was 19 years old. His family hired attorneys to defend him, but Allen ultimately pleaded guilty. His sentencing hearing was held Friday in Lauderdale County Circuit Court before Judge Larry Roberts.
The sentence for DUI manslaughter can be as much as 25 years. The judge sentenced Allen to 10 years, with five years suspended and five years to serve. Allen was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine and Jerrod's funeral expenses, $8,748.
Allen won't be returning to the University of Southern Mississippi in the fall to prepare for a career in the music industry.
Quick takes
Many victims: Violent death leaves the field covered with victims. Jerrod, who died. His parents and family, who will never be the same. Allen, the author of the tragedy, who is going to prison. His family, who will never be the same.
As the judge left the courtroom, sobs came from the bench where Allen's family sat. Terrible, keening sobs.
The 40 or so people who attended the hearing to support one family or the other didn't know what to do. They looked at each other, stood, hesitated, took a step, stopped, as Jerrod's family quietly left the courtroom.
Jerrod's parents: Cathy Haguewood wanted more jail time for Allen. "If he served the maximum for DUI manslaughter, it wouldn't be enough," she said.
Roger Haguewood said he thought Allen should do at least two years. The judge gave him more. Part of the reason is because Allen did not stop partying after the accident, and he tested positive for marijuana on the day he entered his petition to plead guilty.
The judge didn't understand why Allen hadn't changed his ways. "What kind of shock does it take if killing one of your friends doesn't do it?" Roberts asked.
Big envelope: After the hearing, I went to look at a big, manila envelope full of papers about Allen. The transcripts and certificates of an excellent student, cards from schoolchildren, letters pleading for leniency.
One of those letters was from Allen's father, who described the scene of the accident.
Russell Carr and his wife arrived shortly after it occurred. They found their son in the back seat of a patrol car covered in blood and glass.
Still in shock: One corrections officer said Allen was calm as he was booked into the Lauderdale County jail Friday afternoon: "It'll hit him later, sometime in the middle of the night, and he'll realize he got five years."
Allen is unlikely to serve all five years.
In 2000, the state Legislature enacted a law making non-violent, first-offenders eligible for parole after serving 25 percent of their sentences. While vehicular homicide is classified as a violent crime, DUI manslaughter is not. Allen could be paroled in the summer of 2004.
A ball of paper: In a corner of a bench in the courtroom, I found a half-sheet of paper wadded up into a ball. On it were notes written by a friend or family member of Russell Dewayne McCann.
The young woman indicted for DUI manslaughter in his death, Penny Withers Therrell, had been scheduled for sentencing on Tuesday.
But at the last minute, defense attorneys and the district attorney's office couldn't agree on what the plea agreement said. By the time the attorneys resolved their conflict, it was too late to hold the hearing.
The person who wrote the notes must have done so in preparation to testify Tuesday, and crumpled them up when it became clear Penny Therrell wasn't going to be sentenced that day.
If "deterrence" is what the judge is all about, Friday's hearing does not bode well for her.
