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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - A southwest Missouri man who told investigators he was "a little buzzed" before a traffic accident that killed a well-known hospice nurse is going to prison for 12 years.
KOLR-TV reports (http://bit.ly/KP4Kj0) that 32-year-old Matthew Brannon, of Springfield, was sentenced Monday in Greene County Circuit Court.
Brannon pleaded guilty in April to first-degree involuntary manslaughter.
Investigators said he had a blood-alcohol level of .159 - nearly twice the legal limit - after the collision at a Springfield intersection that killed 55-year-old Kathryn Wells in October 2010. Brannon told authorities he had been drinking earlier that day but thought he could drive because he was "only a little buzzed."
Witnesses and experts estimated Brannon was driving at least 72 mph in a 45 mph zone before hitting the car driven by Wells.