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Last updated on Thursday, October 23, 2014
(OWEN CO.) - 23-year-old Cory Robert Deschamp of Jasonville plead guilty and was sentenced to prison for operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing a tragic crash last September that claimed the life of a Terre Haute man and critically injured a passenger.
The Greene County Daily World reports that the head-on crash occurred early on the morning of Sept 15, 2012 about a mile south of Spencer on State Road 67/US 231.
37-year-old Keith Fennell of Terre Haute was pronounced dead on the scene.
His wife, 41-year-old Jennifer Fennell, was a passenger in the vehicle and was airlifted by an Air Evac air ambulance to IU Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. She suffered life-threatening injuries and was listed in critical condition the day after the crash.
According to police reports, the Fennells were traveling north on the highway just after 6 a.m. when the 2001 Chevrolet pickup truck driven by Deschamp was traveling southbound and veered over the center line and hit the Fennell's 1995 Plymouth van head-on.
The Fennels were trapped in the wreckage and had to be extricated by emergency personnel. First responders were unable to save Keith Fennel and he died on the scene.
Deschamp suffered minor injuries and refused medical treatment at the scene.
Officers conducted field sobriety tests and determined Deschamp was intoxicated and he was taken to IU Health Bloomington Hospital for a blood draw. His blood-alcohol level was reported to be .09.
Deschamp told officers he was on his way home after a night of drinking in Bloomington and fell asleep at the wheel.
Deschamp was arrested on felony charges of causing death when operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated; causing serious bodily injury when operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and operation of a motor vehicle without financial responsibility.
Deschamp's posted bond and was released from jail.
Deschamp pleaded guilty to all the charges and was sentenced by Owen Circuit Judge Lori Thatcher Quillen to six years in the Indiana Department of Corrections with two years fully executed and four years suspended.
He will serve the four suspended years on probation and he must attend alcohol counseling and pay restitution. His driver's license has been suspended but when it is reinstated, the judge ordered that a device be installed in his vehicle that will prevent him from operating the vehicle if he has alcohol in his system.
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