No jail time for Minor in deadly DUI case
Published 7:17 pm Friday, March 21, 2008
An Oxford man has been sentenced to two years of house arrest after pleading guilty to driving while intoxicated when he caused an accident in which Joe South of Abbeville died.
Darron Lee Minor, pleaded guilty Tuesday to aggravated DUI, accepting a plea agreement that sentenced him to 20 years in prison with 18 years suspended and two to serve under house arrest.
He also will serve supervised probation for five years after house arrest. If at any time he violates his probation, he will serve the 20 years in prison, said Assistant District Attorney Lani Hill.
Hill said Minor will undergo drug testing and will wear a monitor that will alert his probation office if he leaves his home for any unapproved reason. Under house arrest, defendants can go to work, but need permission to leave the house for any other reason.
“The sentence doesn’t come close to what it should be for that type of injury,” District Attorney Ben Creekmore said Wednesday. “But we had an evidentiary problem.”
According to court records, South was traveling on Mississippi Highway 7 near Waterford when an approaching car, driven by Minor, slammed into him. South died at the scene.
Minor, nephew to Northern District Transportation Commissioner Bill Minor, was charged with aggravated DUI in January 2006.