Decision reversed in fatal Texarkana crash

The actions of a Texarkana driver before a crash killing a family of four in 2015 didn’t amount to criminal negligence, the Arkansas Supreme Court determined Thursday in overturning the man’s four convictions for negligent homicide.

The 4-3 decision marks the second time the state’s highest court has reviewed the charges against Benjamin Ward Ledwell. In 2016, the court unanimously reversed a lower court’s decision to dismiss the case for surpassing the statute of limitations from the May 19, 2015 crash.

Ledwell was driving a pickup on Arkansas 7 in Hot Spring County when he drifted into the southbound lane and collided with a minivan, killing Cindy and Allen Rhein, along with their two children, Steven Sprankle and Anthony Sprankle.

According to vehicle data obtained by Arkansas State Police investigators, Ledwell hadn’t braked before the crash, but in the final seconds had let up on the accelerator and attempted to steer back into his own lane.

Ledwell later said he had been reaching for something on the floor just before the crash.

In 2018, after the Supreme Court reinvested jurisdiction to the trial court, a Hot Spring County jury convicted Ledwell of four counts of negligent homicide and gave him a suspended sentence.

Ledwell appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing the judge should have ruled from the bench and dismissed the charges.

Writing for the majority, Justice Rhonda Wood agreed, stating Ledwell’s conduct didn’t amount to a “gross deviation” from the standard of care required of a driver.