Man Gets Ten Years in Fatal 2016 Wreck

TYLER — A Smith County jury has sentenced James Arthur Fulton to the maximum sentence of 10 years for causing the death of an East Texas woman in 2016. KETK reports Fulton, 42, of Bulverde, was convicted Thursday of criminally negligent homicide in connection with last year’s death of Haile Beasley, 21. On the night of May 14, 2016, Fulton’s truck hit Beasley’s car head-on in the eastbound lanes of West Grande Boulevard in Tyler. Investigators determined that Fulton was responsible for the accident. Beasley was pronounced dead at the scene. Fulton was not injured.

Police said Fulton admitted to drinking, but he was determined not to be intoxicated. Authorities said Fulton had passed field sobriety tests at the scene. District Attorney Matt Bingham had recommended that Fulton be given 7 years. The jury deliberated hours before delivering the sentence.