Glen Burnie pastor reflects as intoxicated driver who killed his wife is sentenced to 14 years

Most of Lady Nikki’s family couldn’t make it to the Annapolis courthouse Thursday afternoon.

It was too much for them, explained assistant state’s attorney Carolynn Grammas, to face the Carroll County man whose decision to drive while impaired last spring killed their beloved matriarch, Tramellia Nicole “Lady Nikki” Wright-Fox — a woman her husband, Alvis R. Fox Jr., said they were “completely dependent on.”

Fox, who still runs the Lord’s Church of Deliverance in Baltimore after his partner’s and co-pastor’s death, stood before Anne Arundel Circuit Judge J. Michael Wachs alone and stuck to a message he has carried since that fatal May day.

“I’ve said it once. I’ve said it twice,” Fox told the judge. “We forgive this person.”

On May 12, 2022, Wright-Fox, 47, was killed on the shoulder of Maryland Route 10 after her car caught a flat tire. As her adopted brother worked on replacing it, Wright-Fox stepped toward the trunk of her Hyundai Elantra when a Ford Crown Victoria driven by Kevin James Pickett crashed into her and her car.

The Hyundai was plowed into a nearby pole. The brother was thrown into the grass and Wright-Fox was killed. On Thursday, Grammas presented a picture of a hole in Pickett’s windshield where the mother’s head hit. She asked Fox beforehand if he was OK to see it. He was, he said.

Pickett, 43, was arrested on charges of driving while impaired by drugs, homicide by vehicle while impaired and manslaughter. With methadone, fentanyl and THC in his system, he suffered no injuries from the crash, police said at the time.

A week before he was scheduled for trial in February, Pickett pleaded guilty to negligent manslaughter and driving while impaired by a controlled dangerous substance. On Thursday, the Sykesville resident was sentenced to 14 years in prison, with six years of a 20-year sentence suspended.

Both Grammas and defense attorney David Putzi focused on Pickett’s past issues and run-ins with the law over drug abuse, including two driving while impaired convictions in the early 2000s. Putzi called his client’s actions “reckless and selfish,” but not intentional.

Saying he knew Thursday’s proceeding was meant to provide punishment and serve as a form of deterrence, Putzi said, “we are optimistic about another day where we talk about rehabilitation.”

When given the opportunity to address the court, Pickett, who his attorney described as a “soft-spoken, mild-mannered individual,” turned to Fox.

“I never meant to harm anyone,” he said, “and I’m truly sorry.”

Wachs said he believed in Pickett’s remorse, saying the defendant had no intention of killing Wright-Fox and pointing to his addiction as “the root” of the fatal crash. The judge said, however, he could not ignore the “immeasurable pain” Pickett had caused — Fox told the court minutes earlier that a therapist had to be brought in at an international convention to console church officials who had known his wife.

That pain was shared on both sides of the aisle Thursday, as members of both families acknowledged the others’ grief. After the hearing, Pickett’s relatives spoke with Fox. Sheriff’s deputies, always prepared to separate sparring sides during contentious proceedings, stood by, though there was no need.

Reflecting on the tragedy in court, Fox said, “It’s been very, very overwhelming, yet peaceful.”

Joyce Jones, Pickett’s aunt, said the pastor’s early messages of peace and forgiveness were a comfort for her family in the wake of the crash, especially compared to many of the grief-fueled posts they saw online.

Jones also said it was difficult seeing the list of her nephew’s struggles with drug abuse and the number of encounters he’s had with the law. She hoped this experience would teach judicial actors to see addicts’ need for help “right away.”

“These people need rehabilitation,” Jones said. “The prosecutors, the judges need to realize addiction is a disease.”