Odenville man convicted on criminally negligent homocide in two 2012 deaths

An Odenville man will serve 18 months in prison after st. clair county jury found him guilty of the criminally negligent homicide of two people while he was under the influence of a controlled substance.   35 year old Jason Stewart,  of Odenville, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but the sentence was split. Stewart will serve 18 months in prison and the remaining time on probation for the two-count conviction, which runs concurrently.   The St. Clair County District Attorney’s Office requested that Stewart serve the maximum sentence consecutively, not concurrently as ordered by the judge. Stewart was found guilty by a St. Clair County jury for the criminally negligent homicide while under the influence of a controlled substance in the deaths of 63 year old Robert Wayne Long,  of Pell City, and 60 year old Debra Garza, of Clinton, Ark.  Assistant District Attorney John DeMarco said the victims were on a motorcycle when Stewart struck them head-on with the vehicle he was operating. The wreck happened June 27, 2012, on Moody Parkway.  DeMarco said Stewart crossed the middle line into the opposite lane of traffic, forcing one vehicle off the road before crashing head-on into the motorcycle Long was driving.  Stewart’s bond was revoked after the defendant was ordered not to drive but continue to do so anyway. Prosecutors  said Stewart was involved in four additional wrecks after the fatal 2012 crash, including one wreck with injuries.