A man pled guilty to negligent homicide charges during an appearance in Baxter County Circuit Court/Criminal Division February 23.
Forty-five-year-old Ian Michael Tice of Mountain Home was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He has been an inmate in the Baxter County Detention Center since being arrested on the day of the fatal car crash. His bond was set at $50,000.
In addition to negligent homicide, Tice was also charged with a number of traffic offenses, including driving while intoxicated, having an open container of alcohol in his vehicle, driving left of center and obstructing governmental operation.
If the death in a negligent homicide case is caused by a person driving while impaired, the prison term for the offender could range from 5-to-20 years and the fine could be up to $25,000.
The Arkansas State Police identified the victim in the December 10 accident as a 19-year-old Mountain Home woman.
Friends and family of the victim appeared in court and gave emotional statements prior to Tice being formally sentenced.
Several said it was not an accident that took the victim’s life but a choice Tice made to drink and drive. The mother of the victim said her daughter’s death “has left our lives frozen in time.”
Some of the victim impact statements dealt with the sentence Tice received. One said she felt Tice deserved life in prison and “not anything short of that” and another said while Tice was getting 15 years, the friends and family of the victim had been “given a life sentence.”
When Tice spoke, he said he was sorry for what happened but admitted that “no amount of apologizing can be enough.”
According to the police report, Tice’s vehicle, a 1966 Ford-350 displaying expired Tennessee license plates, crossed the centerline and the victim’s vehicle causing it to rotate on the roadway. It was then struck by another car before leaving the roadway.
The fatal accident happened shortly after noon along State Highway 201 North in the Clarkridge area.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Tice first told officers he had not been driving the vehicle and that the driver had fled from the crash scene.
Tice has had two previous felony arrests in Baxter County, both in 2016.
In one case, he was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and possessing an instrument of crime.
The second arrest was made when Tice attacked a woman and fought with a man who heard the victim scream and came to help her.
Baxter County sheriff’s deputies found drug paraphernalia in the room where the attack took place.
Tice was put on probation in both of his previous cases. A petition to revoke his probation in one of those cases was filed in late December last year and was based on him picking up the new negligent homicide charge.
He was declared a fugitive in late November 2017 and a failure to comply warrant was issued for his arrest. According to court records, the warrant was served 7 years and three months later when Tice was located and arrested in Jackson County, Alabama, and returned to Baxter County.
Tice’s probation in the assault case was extended by three years when he was brought back and the state dismissed the lesser offenses in the second case.
BUZZARD ROOST INN
For a time, Tice and three others lived in the closed Buzzard Roost Resort which tax records showed was owned by Tice.
There were allegations of drug use, drug sales and other crimes swirling around residents at the location.
The building that housed the former resort burned to the ground in 2016.
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