Girl, 7, tells judge how much she misses her mom

Erica D. Johnson

Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2003 | 9:30 a.m.

When the debris was cleared from a traffic collision near Sunrise Mountain nearly six months ago, two people were dead and a 7-year-old girl was left without a mother.

Tenaya Stewart appeared much wiser than her 7 years as she addressed a District Court judge on Tuesday, moments before the woman who caused the collision was to be sentenced to prison.

"I know my mom is gone and I'm going to miss her a lot," she said, pointing to a picture of her mother, Veronica Wilburn. "I know my mom is in heaven looking down on us."

Tenaya, who suffered a fractured jaw in the collision, also offered words of encouragement to her family, who packed the rows of District Judge John McGroarty's courtroom.

"It's always OK to cry about my mom," she said through tears. "But we all have to be strong."

McGroarty sentenced Mackida Ferrell, 25, to four to 20 years in prison in the March collision that killed Wilburn, 28, and her friend, James Crockett, 18.

Bernard Jones, 29, suffered brain damage and other injuries in the collision.

"This is a terrible, terrible tragedy affecting so many members of the community," McGroarty said. "This truly has had a ripple effect."

Ferrell, a former licensed nurse practitioner at Valley Hospital Medical Center, had pleaded guilty to four counts of felony DUI in July.

Before the sentence was handed down, she apologized to the victims' family members for what she called her "irresponsible actions."

"I pray God will place it in your hearts to forgive me," she said, crying. "Words can not express how truly sorry I am."

Ferrell's attorney, Robert Lucherini, said his client took full responsibility for her actions by entering a guilty plea. Ferrell also has no prior criminal record, he said.

"I'm sure if she could give her life to give these others back, she'd do it in a New York second," he said.

Alice Woodard, Crockett's mother, said she could not bring herself to forgive the woman who killed her only son.

Wilburn and Crockett were returning home after attending Woodard's birthday party when the collision occurred, she said.

"When I visit my son I'll always think of you," she said to Ferrell. "I hope you think of our family and the treasure that you stole from us."

Crockett, who was in another collision three years prior, was recovering from a broken back and other serious injuries when he was killed in the crash caused by Ferrell.

Wilburn's parents, Sylvester and Margree, had asked McGroarty to hand down a harsh punishment for Ferrell's "total disregard for human life."

"There will never be closure for me," Sylvester Wilburn told the court. "The pain and agony will be with me for ever."

Police said Ferrell was driving a Honda east on Washington Avenue near Hollywood Boulevard when she ran a stop sign and plowed into Wilburn's Oldsmobile Alero.

Ferrell was driving 80 to 90 mph in a 35 mph zone, prosecutor Gary Booker said.

Her blood alcohol level was 0.14 at the time of the collision and Corona beer bottles from her car were strewn about the crime scene, he said.

"When you kill a person, you kill a universe," Booker said. "These families are completely destroyed."