Spinks Guilty in Hit and Run Death

SULPHUR SPRINGS � A man on trial in Sulphur Springs on charges of intoxication manslaughter has been found guilty of DWI, a misdemeanor, and accident involving injury or death failure to stop and render aid, a felony. James Blake Spinks, 25, of Yantis was charged with hitting Nathan Spataro, 21. He was found dead along side Interstate Highway 30 Service Road in June of last year. Spinks, who had spent the prior afternoon and evening drinking, thought he had hit a deer. Authorities were not called until several hours after the incident, and then by a man at a business who Spinks told he thought he had hit something and needed a place to hide out.

Becky Hicks, Nathan Spataro�s mother, gave a victim impact statement directed toward Spinks. �I wasn�t ready to say goodbye to my son. I think constantly about how you left my son in the ditch like he was nothing.� She went on to say that �drinking and driving had a whole new meaning to me. Part of me is so angry I could scream, while part of me is so numb from pain I can�t scream. You had a choice that night. No one made you get in your car and drive; no one made you leave him (Nathan) in the ditch. We can�t choose how we die, but we can choose how we live. Those who think that facing 10 years in prison for taking a life while driving under the influence is too severe have never faced a life sentence without their loved one. �