By Chris Edwards
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WOODVILLE – The relatively sparse criminal record of a Lufkin man spared him from a lengthier sentence than what some members of Tyler County jury wanted.
Robert Gustavus Hadnot, 55, was sentenced to six and a half years in prison after a guilty verdict was reached last Tuesday in his trial on an intoxication manslaughter charge.
Hadnot testified in his trial that he was, indeed, intoxicated, but said that factor did not contribute to the accident, which resulted in the death of his cousin.
Tyler County District Attorney Lucas Babin said that the outcome of the trial also cleared one of the last remaining cases on the docket from the pandemic era shutdown of 2020, when Hadnot was arrested on the charge.
According to evidence presented in the trial, during which District Judge Delinda Gibbs-Walker presided, in the early morning hours of May 20, 2020, Tyler County Sheriff’s Office deputy Casey Whitworth, who now serves as the Pct. 2 Constable, arrived on the site of a single-vehicle accident.
Hadnot was found to be walking around the scene, on FM 256 East between Colmesneil and Dam B, in a confused state, while his passenger, 54-year-old Dietrich Hart was discovered lying in the grass with a serious head injury. Hart, who was Hadnot’s cousin, had been ejected from the car, which had sustained severe damage after striking a utility pole, as a Texas Department of Public Safety incident report showed.
Hart was pronounced dead later the same morning, after being transported to Tyler County Hospital. DPS trooper Shane Moses, who had arrived on the scene and investigated the crash, found that Hadnot’s vehicle had left the roadway, flipped and struck a utility pole. He noted that on scene, Hadnot smelled of alcohol and had failed a standardized field sobriety test. A blood sample showed his blood alcohol concentration level to be 0.20, which is more than double the 0.08 legal limit.
The investigation determined that both men had been drinking alcohol all afternoon at a family gathering and were returning to Lufkin around 4 a.m. when the accident took place.
The jurors were able to decide on a guilty verdict within 15 minutes but were deadlocked for more than four hours in deciding Hadnot’s punishment.
Babin said that some jurors wanted the 20-year maximum sentence, while others wanted two years.
Hadnot had only one previous conviction, in 1999, for Driving While Intoxicated, and jurors also considered the fact that Hart was also intoxicated and not wearing a seatbelt.
Following four hours and 20 minutes of deliberations, the jury decided on a 6.5-year sentence in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
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