By SUSAN SHARP

JACKSBORO, TN. (WLAF)- Instead of facing a jury, Margo White-Oden entered a guilty plea in the car accident that severely injured her three children.

On Monday, she agreed she was guilty of the 13 charges she had been indicted on in 2021.

Oden pled guilty to three counts of reckless endangerment, three counts of aggravated child abuse, three counts of aggravated child neglect, three counts of vehicular assault and DUI in relation with the near fatal accident.

She was sentenced to five years in prison to be served at 35 percent. After her release she will be on probation for two years. While Oden remains free, she is scheduled to report to jail on July 24.

Oden was driving on Norris Freeway on April 5, 2021, just before 5 pm when her vehicle left the road, striking “a large tree head on,” according to the Tennessee Highway Patrol report.

When THP Trooper Ryan Pope arrived at the crash site, he found Oden’s three children still trapped in the car as she stood near the road after having climbed out of the car, court records said.

A 15-year-old female was wedged in the front seat. She was eventually extricated by a fire and rescue crew. In the back passenger seat was a 13-year-old male “not wearing a seatbelt” with “life threatening injuries,” Ryan’s report said. The child had facial injuries that included lacerations. His left leg was “pinned and bent in an unnatural manner” as well. Also, in the back seat was a 10-year-old male. That child was face down when Ryan found him. At the time, he told the officer he “could not feel his legs,” the report said. The third child wasn’t wearing a seatbelt either.

As Ryan interviewed Oden, he learned she lacked a valid driver’s license.

During the interview, Oden insisted she had been taking her children fishing when another car forced them from the road causing the accident. As she told her story, Oden had “a blue substance on her upper lip just below her right nostril,” the report said. She also allegedly told law enforcement she takes Klonopin, Adderall, Suboxene and a bi-polar medication.

Following a series of field sobriety tests, Ryan determined Oden was “impaired.”

Ryan’s next step was to ask Oden for a blood draw while at the crash scene. Even though Oden agreed to it, first responders were unable to draw blood at the scene. Oden allegedly blamed “her scar tissue from drug use” for the failed draw.

As her children were airlifted from the scene for medical care, Oden refused medical transport telling police her wife would instead take her to an emergency room. Initially, THP allowed the women to leave the scene but soon called Oden and had her pull over. She was then transported to UT Medical Center by another THP Trooper, the report said. Once there, medical personnel were able to “draw a small amount of blood.”

Further investigation into Oden revealed she had a public drug overdose on March 15, 2021, in Rocky Top.

(WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED 06/27/2024- 6AM)

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