Driver in ‘18 crash gets 16-year prison sentence

3 men hurt; drugs found in her system

A 52-year-old Jacksonville woman who seriously injured three men in an intoxicated-driving crash has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for the May 2018 collision and unrelated drug charges.

Sentencing papers filed Wednesday by deputy prosecutor Jill Kamps show Isabel Gertrude Zajac pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree battery plus charges of possession of oxycodone, drug-paraphernalia and methamphetamine trafficking in exchange for the 16-year sentence from Pulaski County Circuit Judge Barry Sims.

Zajac, represented by defense attorney Bill James, faced up to 54 years.

Court files show Zajac, westbound on Arkansas 365 North, crossed into oncoming traffic about 4 p.m. May 15, 2018, and hit the 2000 GMC pickup driven by Norman Herbert Strehl, 67 with passengers Jermaine Adams, 47, and Dion Lamar Lovelace, 49. All three Little Rock men were seriously injured, but Adams and Lovelace were hurt so badly they have been confined to nursing homes, likely for the rest of their lives.

Police had already been on the alert for a possible drunken driver in the area because the motorist who was behind Zajac’s truck had called 911 to report her erratic driving. On the scene of the crash, Zajac denied being under the influence and a breath test detected no alcohol. However, amphetamines and benzodiazepines were found in her system, court filings show.

Eight months later, on Jan. 11, 2019, Zajac was arrested after a late-night encounter with Pulaski County sheriff’s deputies who had stopped the car she was riding in on Arkansas 161 at the Interstate 40 entrance. On the passenger floorboard, officers found 3.8 grams of meth, three oxycodone pills and a glass meth pipe, court filings show.

More meth was found in Zajac’s purse and she had 29.6 grams of marijuana, about an ounce, on her. She denied knowing anything about the meth in her purse and told deputies that the driver, James Randall Imhoff of Sherwood, had given her the marijuana to hide.

Imhoff, 56, was subsequently sentenced to five years on probation after pleading guilty to possession of meth, oxycodone and drug paraphernalia.