W. Va. judge scolds pregnant defendant before sentencing her to 15 years

FAYETTEVILLE, W. Va. — A West Virginia judge had harsh words for a woman convicted of driving under the influence of drugs when she struck an SUV on a rural road in the southern part of the state.

Judge John Hatcher Jr. Monday sentenced Sarena Fox, 23, of Meadow Bridge to 15 years in prison — the maximum allowed under state law — after hearing an emotional statement from the victims’ son Charles Richardson.

Richardson tearfully described his mother, Joyce, as his best friend and his father Eric as a U.S. Army veteran and retired coal miner. He said while he understood Fox could only receive three to 15 years, “this is no way enough. I have received a life sentence. Sarena Fox chose to drive impaired, chose to turn a vehicle into a deadly weapon, and ripped my mom and dad from us. I want justice for my mom and dad. I want her to know incarceration in a state prison. I want her to live in a jail cell so she can have the time to dwell and grasp what she has done.”

Hatcher was visibly moved by Richardson’s comments. He spoke directly to Fox with a sardonic frankness that has made him well-known in the state’s judicial circles since his election to the 12th Judicial County Court in 2008.

“I can’t bring back the lives you took,” he told Fox. “I can’t make you straighten out your life or make (the victims’ family members) wake up with any other feeling than broken-heartedness.

“Your attorney said you have changed, but you have not changed anything since being indicted in September 2015,” he continued. “You have a substance abuse problem. You look like death eating a cracker…I don’t know if you ever look in a mirror and say, ‘What in God’s name am I doing to myself?’ I can’t do anything to help you. I can’t to anything to help the Richardson family.”

Hatcher gave Fox the maximum sentence despite both attorneys asking for an alternative sentence.

Nancy Fraley, a public defender representing Fox, asked for alternative sentencing, probation or a sentence to The Anthony Center, a state correctional institution for felony offenders between the ages of 18 and 25.

Prosecutor Brian Parsons also recommended Fox be sent to The Anthony Center, which, would she have completed the drug addiction program there, would have provided about 6.5 years of supervision with parole. That would be better for society than if Fox is released after three years from prison, Parsons said.

But the judge said he believes Fox has not learned from her actions because she had drugs in her system on Monday, has two children not in her custody (including a 4-month-old born addicted) and is 14 weeks pregnant with her third.

“You have not changed at all in terms of being an irresponsible person. Irresponsible is the only way to explain your child producing practices,” he added.

Fraley argued Fox remains on prescription drugs, as is the normal practice for pregnant addicts at the state’s Cabell Huntington Hospital, where she is receiving care.

Plummer writes for the Beckley, West Virginia Register-Herald.