Former WWE personality Tammy Sytch, popularly recognized as Sunny from her wrestling days, has been handed a severe sentence of 17 years in prison coupled with an additional eight years of probation for her involvement in a fatal DUI car crash in Florida last year.
Assistant State Attorney Ashley Terwilleger confirmed the sentencing to EW on Monday, refraining from further elaboration on the matter.
The sentencing arrives three months after Sytch entered a plea of no contest to charges including DUI manslaughter, driving with a suspended license, four counts of DUI resulting in injury, and two counts of DUI resulting in property damage.
The tragic incident occurred in March 2022 when Sytch collided her vehicle into one driven by Julian Fran Lasseter at a red light in Ormond Beach, causing Lasseter’s car to strike another vehicle.
Sadly, Lasseter succumbed to the injuries sustained in the crash.
Reports indicate that Sytch’s blood-alcohol content was between 0.32 and 0.36 at the time of the accident, significantly surpassing the legal limit by four times.
Authorities found an open bottle of vodka in her car, and she confessed to consuming vodka before the crash.
This incident took place just four months following Sytch’s release from an eight-month prison term for a prior DUI offense.
Prosecutors pushed for the maximum sentence of 26 years, labeling Sytch as a “danger to society” due to her pattern of repeated offenses.
In court Monday, Sytch asked Judge Karen Foxman for another chance, pointing to all the work she’s done to bring others happiness through her time in the WWE. “I’ve made terminally ill children’s wishes come true through the Make-a-Wish foundation,” she said, per to the News-Journal. “I have done something horrible but I am so much more than the worse that I have done.” She also apologized to Lasseter’s family, adding, “If I could bring Mr. Lasseter back and take his place I would in an instant.”
