Published: October 20, 2009 09:51 pm      

Orange man killed while serving time in prison

An Orange man who was serving time in prison for intoxication manslaughter was killed Tuesday afternoon.

Todd Hughes, 39, was working with an inmate maintenance crew outside the Huntsville Walls Unit on a broken underground water line when he was electrocuted by an adjacent electrical line.

Hughes was transported to Huntsville Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to information from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

A second inmate was treated in the unit's infirmary. TDCJ's Office of Inspector General is investigating the accident.

Hughes was sentenced May 2007 to 7 years in prison for the intoxication manslaughter of 22-year-old Jennifer Hughes (no relation to Todd Hughes) of Nederland.

At the time of the wreck his blood alcohol level was at .24. The legal limit in Texas is .08.

Todd Hughes pleaded guilty in April 2007 and returned to court after a pre-sentence investigation report was completed.

Todd Hughes admitted in court he had two prior misdemeanor DWI convictions. His first one was in 2001 in Colorado County for which he served three days in jail. A plea bargain agreement in Arkansas gave him a second DWI charge after it was reduced from leaving the scene of an accident.

On the witness stand, Todd Hughes expressed his remorse for the wreck that took Jennifer Hughes’ life. Regardless of the sentence, Hughes said he feels he is punished every day.

“It is hard for me to get up in the morning and I live with this every day,” Hughes said in court. “I am so sorry for Jennifer’s family and everybody I affected by my poor decisions.”

Todd Hughes and Jennifer Hughes were dating for two years at the time of the accident and had attended a company Christmas party given by Todd Hughes’ employer. The party which had an open bar ended at midnight. Instead of going home, they went to a bar in Beaumont.

Afterward they headed towards Todd Hughes’ home in Orange. About 2 a.m. Todd Hughes was driving his 2004 GMC pickup truck south on State Highway 87 without a valid driver’s license. He started to turn onto Abe’s Road when he was hit by a tractor-trailer heading north. The tractor-trailer hit the passenger side of the pickup where Jennifer Hughes was sitting, according to officials with the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Jennifer Hughes was pronounced dead at the scene. Todd Hughes was transported by helicopter to St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont with facial cuts and bruises and was in an incapacitating condition, according to DPS reports.

“I thought about giving you 10 years, but considered your children,” 260th District Court visiting Judge David Walker said at the time of sentencing and referring to Hughes’ two children, ages 15 and 7. “My only hope is that someone hears of this and it is a deterrent for them.”

The judge agreed with the assistant district attorney, Philip Smith, that Todd Hughes’ vehicle was a deadly weapon. As a result, Hughes was required to serve at least half of his sentence before being released.



Debby Schamber is a reporter for the Orange Leader. She can be reached at 409-883-3571 ext. 2609 or at dschamber@orangeleader.com.