SALT LAKE CITY — A woman who drove her SUV through an office building, hitting her husband twice, was sentenced Tuesday.
Brenda White was sentenced to one year in jail, followed by 36 months of probation and 300 hours of community service. She was also ordered to undergo a mental evaluation and to pay $29,745.41 in restitution.
In April 2006, White was accused of driving her car through the lobby of a Millcreek office building and trying to hit her estranged husband, Jon White. The attack was captured on surveillance cameras.
White's attorney tried to use the so-called "Xanax defense" - meaning White's state of mind was altered by anti-depressants on the day of the incident.
A mistrial was declared last August, and the prosecution and defense agreed on a plea deal. White pleaded guilty in August 2012 to aggravated assault and criminal mischief, both second-degree felonies. In exchange, prosecutors dropped a charge of attempted murder.
The victim, Jon White, spoke to FOX 13 News Tuesday after Brenda's sentencing.
"I have a life-long leg injury. It's never going to go away, but I'll just move on every day with it," Jon White said. "The thing is we can now finally say that, for the actions that happened on that day, she's being held accountable for it. And that's been the big question mark the whole time is, why is she not being held accountable for it? And everybody in my family can finally just breathe a sigh of relief that she's going to be held accountable."
Judge William Barrett, who recently retired, came back to the courtroom for the sentencing.
"He had been on this case for six and a half years. He had heard all the evidence during the trial. He was utterly familiar with this case, so it was only appropriate that he come back and do the sentencing," said Jason Schatz, Brenda White's attorney, about Judge Barrett.
Brenda White began her jail sentence immediately.
Frame-by-frame slideshow of the incident:
Past stories on the White case:
