NLR man, 54, gets 10 years in prison for 2019 hit-and-run death

A North Little Rock man was sentenced to 10 years in prison Monday more than three years after he killed a Sherwood bicyclist in a 2019 hit-and-run collision.

Cecil Daren Ferrell, 54, was arrested in March 2020 by police, eight months after the collision. He pleaded guilty in September to felony counts of negligent homicide and leaving the scene of an injury accident, and faced a possible 42 years in prison for the offenses.

The victim, John Daniel Mundell, a 59-year-old newlywed and father of six, was biking south on Arkansas 107 about 20 minutes before sundown in July 2019 when he was hit from behind north of Millers Point Court by Ferrell, who fled the scene. Mundell died four days later.

Ferrell took the stand Monday, apologizing to the victim’s family for the collision.

Richard Hughes, Ferrell ‘s defense attorney, asked Pulaski County Circuit Judge Leon Johnson to consider his client’s possible alcoholism in the sentencing.

“That is a disease,” Hughes said. “We typically don’t send people to prison for having a disease … it’s not against the law to have a disease.”

The passenger who was in the car with Ferrell during the collision said he and Ferrell had been drinking heavily at the time, according to court files.

Prosecuting Attorney Leigh Patterson, pushing for a stronger sentence, pointed to Ferrell’s attempt to cover up evidence. According to court documents, Ferrell sold his car, telling the buyer he had gotten into some trouble with the vehicle and needed to get rid of it.

Patterson also said that starting back in 2004, Ferrell’s license was suspended, according to driving records.

Additionally, court records show that Ferrell had two 2007 drug-related convictions from Bradley County.

Mundell’s wife, Kimberly Mundell, took the stand and referred to her husband as a kind and humble man.

“He was the kind of man who would have given anyone the shirt off his back, even the defendant who is here today,” she said.

“We were just starting to build our lives together,” Mundell’s wife said. The two had been married less than two months before he was killed.

“How could someone hit another human being and choose to leave him on the side of the road to die?”

Sherwood police reported that Mundell was wearing a helmet and bright reflective clothing, and that his bike was equipped with a clear forward-facing light on the front and a rear-facing flashing red light under his seat. The lights were still on when police arrived.

“Based on the facts of this case available on court records, the defendant chose to disregard restrictions that numerous, previous courts have placed on him,” Mundell’s wife said.

“He chose to drive with a suspended driver’s license and he chose to drive on a day that according to court records, he yet again, failed to appear in court in another city.”