RUTLAND, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont man has been sentenced to 19 years in prison in a drunken driving crash that killed a Tinmouth farmer.
Thomas Velde Jr. had pleaded guilty to hitting and killing 57-year-old Leo Branchaud on the road outside Branchaud’s dairy farm in Tinmouth in 2016. He was sentenced on Thursday to two felony counts of leaving the scene of an accident and grossly negligent driving, both resulting in a death.
The Rutland Herald reports that Branchaud’s widow brought his tractor to a parking lot across the street from the courthouse on Thursday to honor him. Tami Carboni-Branchaud told the court that when Branchaud was hit and killed on April 22, 2016, her “world ended.”
Prosecutors say Velde was drinking before the crash. His lawyers argued it was accidental.
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Information from: Rutland Herald, http://www.rutlandherald.com/
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