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A Tomball woman was convicted of Intoxication Manslaughter by a Montgomery County jury, in a rare case involving legal prescription drugs.

Sherri Lorene Holloway, 31, was sentenced to 12 years in state prison following her conviction. The case stemmed from a crash on SH 105 in February of 2011, where Holloway crossed the center line, hitting a white Chevrolet van, killing its driver, Kenneth Buffington. Prosecutors said he was killed almost instantly, due to the force of the crash.

Holloway was seriously injured in the crash and sent by Life Flight to Memorial Hermann Hospital.

Witnesses said Holloway’s vehicle was weaving erratically before the crash, even causing a tractor-trailer to have to leave the roadway to avoid her, so State Trooper Eric Lopez obtained a blood sample from Holloway at the hospital. He was also given a baggie with numerous pills that hospital staff found on her.

Lab results showed that Holloway had a combination of valium, soma and hydrocodone in her system at the time the sample was taken.

After hearing testimony from forensic experts and witnesses to the crash, jurors took less than 10 minutes to convict her of the crime.

During the punishment phase prosecutors were able to enter evidence of another crash involving Holloway, which injured Tomball police officers Cpt. Rick Grassi and Sgt. Rebecca Carlisle.

Prosecutors said that in May of 2010, Holloway hit theTomball police officers in a police vehicle on FM 2978, while they were on their way to a police funeral in Conroe. Both officers were injured in the crash. She was allegedly under the influence of the same drugs when that crash occurred.

The 12-year sentence means that Holloway must serve at least half of that before she is eligible for parole. She will be credited with time served already in the Montgomery County Jail, meaning she will possibly have to serve less than five years in state prison.

A Magnolia man pleaded guilty of several counts of indecency with a child and online solicitation, during a Montgomery County court appearance July 27.

Nicholas Allen Smith, 23, agreed to the maximum 10 year sentence on four counts of indecency with a child and 20 years for one count of online solicitation of a minor. He was on probation for a previous conviction on two counts of indecency with a child by exposure, in February of 2011.

Prosecutors and investigators said that within two months of Smith’s original plea, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office learned that Smith was continuing inappropriate contact with girls under the age of 17, as well as accessing pornography. Prosecutors filed a motion to revoke Smith’s probation and bond.

“The probation officer and detective working on the case learned that he had a Facebook account under an alias and had friends who appeared to be underage girls,” Nancy Hebert, chief prosecutor of the crimes against children division said. “They sent out messages to the Facebook friends asking them to contact investigators if they had inappropriate contact with Smith. One girl contacted us while several other filed reports.”

Smith pled guilty to meeting a 13-year-old girl from Conroe and her 11-year-old cousin and driving them to his house in Magnolia, in July of 2011. Once at Smith’s home, court records say that Smith played pornographic videos for the girls and exposed himself to them.

The girls’ mothers then contacted deputies after they noticed inappropriate messages on one of the girls’ phones from someone named Nick. An investigation led back to Smith, who was already on probation for indecency with a 13-year-old girl in February of 2011. Detectives said that the phone number Smith used to text the girl in the latest incident was the same number listed when he was booked in jail on the previous charges.

“Detective Christopher Tate (of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office) and probation officer Jay Haak worked extremely hard on this case,” Hebert said. “Of course, the true credit goes to these five brave young girls who were willing to come forward and speak out about what happened.”

“It is a terribly difficult thing to do and required a great deal of courage on their part.”