A Drew County Jury of six men and six women have returned the verdicts for Samuel Vincent, in the auto accident death of Sheriff’s Deputy Timothy Braden.
The state rested its case against Vincent on Friday for the death of Deputy Braden, who was chasing him last August, attempting a traffic stop.
Both vehicles (Dodge Chargers) crashed, killing Deputy Braden. A felony amount of drugs were found at the scene, which Vincent was arrested for. During testimony last week, Deputy Terry Ballard stated that when he arrived on the scene, he saw a green, leafy substance, a broken glass jar, and an unbroken glass jar. Also in the bag was a “large amount of cash.”
It was estimated that the defendant had smoked approximately one gram of weed, that day. The bag that was shown to the court, the same bag that was recovered from the crash scene, contained 168 grams. The bag also contain $4,109 in cash.
Vincent was found guilty of possession of over four ounces of marijuana and fleeing an officer.
He was found not guilty in causing the death of Officer Braden, and also possession of drug paraphernalia.
Deputy Terry Ballard. Ballard told how as he arrived at the scene, a responding fireman/rescue responder showed him a camouflage bag, near the wrecked vehicles.
Jurors recommended a sentence that Judge Sam Pope approved. He then sentenced Vincent to six years in the Arkansas Department of Correction and a fine of $7,500 on the charge of possession of over four ounces of marijuana.
The sentence for fleeing is one year in the county jail, and a fine of $2,500.
According to Arkansas law, the two sentences will run concurrently, for a total of six years in a Department of Correction, with a $10,000 fine.
It is possible he could be released in one year.
