Driver pleads guilty in crash spree that killed 2 women

The mother of a 20-year-old killed by a drunk driver during a 30-minute crash spree that also claimed the life of another woman said the family couldn't go through a trial.

Randy Archiquette, the driver, obliged today. He pleaded guilty to two counts of Driving Under the Influence manslaughter and leaving the scene in the deaths of Brittany McFarland and Betty Williams, 69.

He faces up to life imprisonment when he is sentenced Feb. 11.

It was an open plea, meaning prosecutors didn't agree to a sentencing recommendation. The only concession they made was to merge the vehicular homicide charges Archiquette faced into the DUI manslaughter charges.

Rachelle McFarland, Brittany's mom, said a trial would be too painful - having to relive how her daughter suffered and died.

"A trial would have ripped out what is left of my heart," she said.

McFarland said the family would ask Circuit Judge Thomas Barber to impose the maximum sentence.

"I'm ready to see where he needs to be - away forever," McFarland said. "That is where my baby is, away forever."

Robert King Jr., William's son, also welcomed the plea.

"I'll be glad when it is over and done," he said. "I miss my mom. I'd be happy if all this never occurred."

King said he would leave sentencing to the judge.

"I don't know a lot about Mr. Archiquette," he explained. "I'll just leave it to the courts."

Archiquette has been held without bail since his arrest April 13, 2009, the day of the accidents.

Barber cautioned Archiquette about the risks of an open plea.

"Whatever the sentence is, you have to live with it," he told the defendant. "You can't go back and change your mind."

Archiquette went ahead and pleaded guilty to the DUI manslaughters and other charges.

Archiquette's 2007 Chevrolet Yukon first rear-ended a tractor-trailer on Adamo Drive and then sideswiped a Ford Crown Victoria near North 39th Street.

The Yukon then rear-ended Williams' 1994 Geo on Florida Avenue, forcing it into a pole, before veering into traffic and striking McFarland's Buick head-on.

Archiquette's blood-alcohol level was 0.147 percent; state law presumes impairment at 0.08 percent.

McFarland said she and the other family members will be working for stiffer DUI laws and punishment.

She pointed to the recent killing of two people on the Harbour Island Bridge as an example that people still aren't serious about drunk driving.

"Things are going to change," she said. "It is out of control and it is going to stop."