20 year sentence in drunk driving death
Published 9:11 pm Thursday, November 15, 2018
GRETNA, La. (AP) — A 28-year-old Louisiana woman has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for causing a fatal crash on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in 2017.
New Orleans news outlets report that Olivia Matte of Covington was sentenced Thursday by state District Judge Glenn Ansardi.
Matte pleaded guilty in September to vehicular homicide and other charges.
Thirty-seven-year-old James Blackmond of Columbia was killed when Matte’s car rear-ended his pickup truck on the 24-mile-long bridge. His brother-in-law was wounded.
Matte was driving with a suspended license after two earlier drunk driving arrests.
She faced a sentence of from five to 30 years. Blackmond’s relatives asked for a severe sentence. Matte’s family said she was truly remorseful and Matte asked for mercy, saying, “I wanted it to be me gone, not him.