Former WWE wrestler Tamara Sytch was sentenced Monday to more than 17 years in prison for causing a fatal multivehicle car crash while intoxicated.
Julian LaFrancis Lasseter, 75, was killed in the March 2022 crash in Volusia County, Florida. Four other people were injured but did not require immediate hospitalization, according to a charging affidavit.
State Circuit Judge Karen Foxman said Sytch was guilty of driving into Lasseter's vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, according to NBC affiliate WESH of Orlando. The force of the crash pushed Lasseter’s car into a third vehicle.
Sytch's blood alcohol level was .280, more than three times the legal limit, the charging affidavit said. Authorities said they found an unsealed bottle of vodka in her car, according to the documents. At the time of the crash, her license was suspended for a DUI-related offense in Pennsylvania.
Prosecutors and Lasseter's family had asked that Sytch be sentenced to more than 25 years in prison, WESH reported. Authorities wrote in the charging document that a review of her criminal history showed that she "had been arrested and charged, multiple times, for DUI of alcohol or controlled substance, as well as driving while license suspended or revoked." She has three DUI convictions in Pennsylvania, according to WESH.
Lasseter’s daughter, Whitney Lasseter Hill, said she had hoped for "a different outcome today.”
"My dad loved us with everything he had, and we miss him every day," she said, according to WESH. "Every day since my dad was taken from us, it’s been incredibly difficult."
Sytch said she regretted her decision that night.
"When I sit alone and think of what I did to the Lasseter family, that tragic day, from a stupid decision, I feel regret and remorse deep in my soul," she told the court.
After her release, Sytch will serve eight years of probation, WESH reported. An attorney for Sytch could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.
Sytch was a popular WWE wrestler who went by the name Sunny. Her WWE bio says she "will forever be remembered as the person who redefined the role of women in WWE." During her career, she won two Slammy Awards, and she was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2011.