Guilty plea gets three-year term

A 40-year-old Alexander woman whose boyfriend died after falling from her car near downtown North Little Rock was sentenced to three years in prison Thursday after admitting to recklessly causing the man’s death.

Christina Marie Peach Cummings pleaded guilty to manslaughter in exchange for a recommendation of that sentence to Pulaski County Circuit Judge Barry Sims by deputy prosecutor Jeanna Sherrill.

Under the plea agreement negotiated by Cummings’ attorney, Pat Aydelott, Cummings also will serve a threeyear suspended sentence once she is released from prison. She faced a maximum of 10 years on the Class C felony charge.

Cummings has been jailed since her August arrest after North Little Rock police found John Edward Kimbell, 47, of Little Rock in the roadway at 400 N. Cypress St. suffering from a serious head injury.

Initially arrested for felony domestic battering, Cummings was charged with manslaughter after Kimbell died four days later.

Motorist Joshua Roach told police that he had seen a black 2006 Toyota Scion driving erratically, then witnessed the driver force her passenger out of the moving car. Roach said the Scion’s right rear wheel then ran over the man as he lay in the road, according to arrest reports.

Roach said he followed the car to the intersection of Broadway and Cypress streets, trying to get the license plate number of the car, but the vehicle backed away from him, according to a police report.

Cummings, who was living in North Little Rock at the time, stopped when an unknown man blocked her car until police could arrive, according to an arrest report.

Cummings told police that she and Kimbell had been arguing and fighting while she was driving. She said Kimbell had been grabbing the steering wheel and the parking brake, the report said.

Cummings told police that Kimbell got out of the car while it was still moving and that she kept driving.

Court records show that Kimbell was wanted by Saline County authorities when he was killed, six months after he pleaded guilty to assaulting Cummings.

Filings show he had been sentenced to two years of probation in February 2016 after pleading guilty to aggravated assault on a family member, but he never reported to his probation officer. Authorities who went to his home discovered he had not lived at the residence for some time.

Court records show he had assaulted Cummings at his home at 1305 Liberty St. in Benton on Oct. 25, 2015.

He was arrested after police, who had been called to the residence about a disturbance, found Cummings injured, court filings show. She said she had been punched, bitten and choked by Kimbell.

Kimbell was also convicted of misdemeanor domestic battering in Little Rock in June 2012 for assaulting Cummings. He pleaded no contest to the charge in November 2014 in exchange for a one-year suspended sentence and a $490 fine. Court filings show that in July 2011, Kimbell and Cummings had a daughter who was immediately put up for adoption. Cummings was also on probation when Kimbell was killed.