East Orange woman sentenced for killing ex-boyfriend with Lexus

Photos courtesy of: Jerry McCrea/The Star-Ledger

From left to right, Orin White Matthews, son of Natasha White, reads a statement about his relationship with his mother during her sentencing on murder charges in Newark today., as defense attorney Champ Goldman, Natahsa White, and Ilene McFarland, another defense attorney, listen.

By Carmen Juri/The Star-Ledger
An East Orange woman convicted of killing her ex-boyfriend two years ago by running him over with her Lexus outside a bar in Orange was sentenced today to 40 years in prison.
Natasha White, 32, must serve 85 percent of her term before becoming eligible for parole, said Superior Court Judge Garry Furnari. At his mother's sentencing for murdering her ex-boyfriend, Orin White Matthews pleaded for leniency, telling a packed Newark courtroom his mother is everything to him and her support inspired him to finish school.
"The last month has been hard without my mother," said Matthews, who recently graduated from high school and said he has a shaky relationship with his father. "I miss my mother so much."
The teenager looked at Natasha White in her green prison garb, her hands handcuffed behind her back and said, "I love you."
White was sentenced after Matthews and other family members, including her mother and stepfather, had finished making emotional pleas for mercy.White was found guilty Feb. 3 of using her Lexus as a weapon to hit and kill Sanders, a 33-year-old Orange resident and father of two, outside a city bar two years ago.
Furnari said he received 11 letters from White's family and friends describing her as a loving, compassionate role model -- even a letter from Sanders' nephew calling White "a mother to him." The letters referred to Sanders' death as a terrible accident.
"But I sat through the trial. Zachary Sanders' death was no accident," Furnari said. "Alcohol and uncontrolled anger led to this tragedy."

Jerry McCrea/The Star-Ledger

Latoshia Renee Richardson, Zachary Sanders' fiancee and mother of his two children, wipes a tear while reading a statement about the consequences of the murder for herself and her children.

Several of Sanders' family members spoke at the sentencing and asked the judge to impose the maximum penalty of life in prison. Among them was Latoshia Renee Richardson, the victim's fiancee and mother of his two children. She said the closest her 10-year-old daughter will get to seeing her father is staring at a picture of him in her room.
"It is very hard telling kids their dad is never coming back home again," Richardson said, sobbing. "I have to face raising kids without their father. If my fiancee can't enjoy his life, she shouldn't."
She then turned to White and said, "Thank you for taking his life and love from all of us."
At one point during the sentencing, White faced Sanders' family. Naming his relatives one by one, she said, "I loved Zachary for three years. You have seen us together. There's no way in your heart that you did not know we loved each other. I loved Zach with all of my heart. There's nothing I can say that can bring him back. Words cannot say how sorry I am.
"I stand strong, and I stand tall with my head held high," White said. "I am not a murderer."
After a three-week trial and eight hours of deliberations, the jury convicted White on 10 counts, including murder, vehicular homicide, aggravated assault, criminal mischief, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, operating a vehicle while her driver's license was revoked, simple assault and other charges. As the verdict was read, several jurors fought back tears.
Prosecutors said that about 11 p.m. on April 9, 2007, White confronted her ex-boyfriend as he stood outside the Rubicon Pub with his friend Bernard Kelly. White then aimed her car directly at Sanders and hit the accelerator, striking him and dragging his body several feet down the street from the lot, they said. Sanders, who suffered a crushed chest, was pronounced dead at the scene minutes later.
Nine days earlier, at the same location, White had used her vehicle to ram into Sanders' parked Infiniti, Assistant Prosecutor Keith Harvest has said, resulting in White's criminal mischief conviction.
Furnari said although White led a law-abiding life and had no prior criminal history, the fact that she rammed her vehicle into the Infiniti is an aggravating factor.
"This was a single period of atypical behavior in the defendant's life," he said. "But that will be little consolation for kids who would be told their father was killed by a good, smart woman."
Defense attorney Champ Goldman said there will be an appeal. He had argued Sanders jumped on the hood of the car and was not run over, making his death an accident.
During sentencing today, Goldman said White could not stop the car because Sanders was drunk and she was afraid he would hurt her.
"No matter what the prosecutors or jury said, this lady is not a murderer. It was a love affair that had gone bad," Goldman said. "I believe if she had taken the stand, she would have been acquitted."