Atlanta lawyer gets 25 years in prison for vehicular homicide

By Bill Rankin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A former Atlanta lawyer with four prior drunk-driving offenses was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison for driving under the influence again and slamming into a taxi cab, killing a mother of two and severely disabling two men.

At the end of an emotional hearing, Fulton Superior Court Judge Constance Russell said she needed to let the community know such behavior deserves severe punishment.

Antonio Tolliver, 40, pleaded guilty to the Oct. 1, 2006, incident when he ran a red light and T-boned a taxi cab at Ellis and Fort streets after drinking at an Atlanta Falcons game. Blood tests showed his alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit. Before the accident he had been ordered not to drive as a condition of probation from a prior DUI.

Passenger Shannon Brown, a 31-year-old military veteran who was finishing her nursing degree at the University of Charleston, died instantly. The West Virginia woman, visiting Atlanta for the weekend, had a 3-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son.

Her boyfriend, Elbert Hall, suffered a collapsed lung and lost sight in one eye. Cab driver John McClendon, who was in a coma for weeks following the accident, suffered severe brain trauma and other injuries.

Carolyn Hairston, Brown's mother, said her grandchildren's lives were devastated. "Hit him with the max," she urged Russell. "They sent my child back in a box."

Tolliver pleaded guilty to one count of vehicular homicide and two counts of serious injury by vehicle, all while driving under the influence. Had he gone to trial and been convicted of all charges he faced, which would have been more than just those he pleaded guilty to, he could have received a maximum of 48 years in prison.

Hall, the father of Brown's daughter, said every time he looks into her face he sees pain and suffering. As for his injuries, he said, "I wouldn't wish my worst enemies to go what I've gone through."

Russell also heard the reading of letters written by members of McClendon's family. The former cab driver, who loved bowling and golf, spent two months in the hospital after the accident, unable to walk, talk, swallow and follow simple commands. He now suffers memory loss.

One relative of Tolliver's after another stood before Russell and then turned to face victims and their families to express their sorrow and apologize.

Tolliver's uncle, C. Jack Ellis, the former mayor of Macon, said his nephew suffers from bipolar disorder, which has debilitated a number of members of his family. One of Tolliver's lawyers, Brian Steel, noted that after his last DUI in March 2006, Tolliver sought help and was receiving regular treatment at the Veteran's Administration up until a few days before the fatal accident.

Before sentencing, Tolliver asked Russell if he could turn and address the families, but the judge instructed him not to do so after seeing family members shaking their heads.

Tolliver said he took full responsibility for his actions. "I was drinking, I was driving, I had no business behind the wheel," he said. "I'm an alcoholic and a very sick person."

He added, "I clearly regret more than anything being introduced into the lives of these families in such a horrible way."

Russell acknowledged that bipolar disorder is a mental illness and alcoholism is a disease. "But he made a decision to drive," she said.