Ex-3 Doors Down bassist gets prison in deadly crash

Former 3 Doors Down bassist Robert "Todd" Harrell's fame fell apart because of something he often kept in his sock.

Pills.

Harrell's addiction to those pills, both prescription drugs and ones he purchased illegally, played a part in leading Nashville Criminal Court Judge Mark Fishburn to hand the ex-rocker a two-year prison sentence on Friday. Harrell also faces a six-year probation term for convictions related to a fatal crash he caused on April 19, 2013.

Harrell will begin his sentence three days after Christmas.

Harrell was driving down Interstate 40 near Hermitage about 10:30 p.m. when he clipped a pickup truck being driven by 47-year-old Paul Shoulders Jr. Harrell was speeding at 101 mph and had alprazolam and oxycodone in his system that night, Metro Police Officer Jessie Loy said during the more than four-hour sentencing hearing Friday. Those drugs are an anxiety medication and painkiller, respectively.

The crash sent the pickup rolling over a guardrail, and Shoulders later died at a hospital.

"The 3 o'clock knock on the door April 20th was the biggest nightmare," Shoulders' sister, Tina Baltz, said during testimony. "And I keep hoping I’ll wake up from this and he’ll be here."

Baltz said she thought she would be able to heal, but Harrell kept getting in trouble and ending up in the news. While this case was pending, Harrell was charged with another DUI — his second — for driving while under the influence of drugs. That second DUI cost him his membership in the band.

Ex-3 Doors Down member's GPS officer charged

"I hoped after the first time maybe this would wake him up," Baltz said. "He has an addiction."

Shoulders' brother-in-law, Michael Baltz, said Shoulders was a simple man, who quit his own job five or six years ago to care for his own ill mother.

"Of course Paul was nowhere near a celebrity," Michael Baltz said. "He was just a simple kind of guy. He didn't make a lot of money. He was a mechanic. He loved to tinker with a race car."

Police took Harrell to jail after the wreck, where they found 36 pills in his sock.

Harrell, 43, on Friday apologized to Shoulders' family, looking toward them as they sat in the court gallery wiping their tears with tissues.

Ex-3 Doors Down bassist pleads no contest to second DUI

Harrell said he used drugs to relieve pain in his neck from playing football as a child and after surgery onhis knees from "bouncing around on stage for 20 years." In about 2009 he realized he was addicted, he said.

He said he has been to rehabilitation four times: two short stints of one and two weeks each and two stints of three months each. He said he never wanted to use narcotics again, even if he has to undergo more surgery.

Harrell's two-year prison sentence could be reduced to as little as one year if he has good behavior in prison. If he violates the terms of probation after his release, he could face another five years in prison, according to the terms outlined by the judge.

Fishburn noted that more than 40 people and organizations submitted letters on Harrell's behalf, talking about the good work the musician has done. Fishburn said Harrell had donated more than $1.2 million in Mississippi, including some funding after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast in 2005. Harrell grew up in a small Mississippi town about a dozen miles north of the Gulf of Mexico, according to testimony.

Fishburn ordered Harrell to continue that work while on probation:

Harrell must to go into six schools each of the six years he is on probation and speak about drug addiction.

Harrell must attend Narcotics Anonymous treatment meetings.

And Harrell must work with the Governor's Highway Safety Office on its new anti-DUI campaign, doing at least two public service announcements.

That will be Harrell's new celebrity.

Ex-3 Doors Down bassist pleads guilty in fatal crash

Reach Stacey Barchenger at 615-726-8968 and on Twitter @sbarchenger.

Case closed

On Dec. 11, Harrell pleaded guilty to the charges against him. He was represented by attorney Dan Warlick, and his case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Valiquette. On Dec. 18, Fishburn handed down the following sentences:

• Convictions of vehicular homicide and introducing contraband to a penal institution, both felonies: Two sentences of five years in prison that will run concurrent. It is a suspended sentence, meaning Harrell will not serve the time unless he violates his probation. Then, he would do 18 months before being considered for release. Six years of probation.
• Three counts of possession of a controlled substance: Two years total prison, to begin Dec. 28.
• Violating the state's implied consent law: Suspension of his driver's license for six years.