Former Dallas Cowboys player Josh Brent was sentenced to 180 days in prison and 10 years’ probation on Friday for the car crash that killed friend and fellow teammate Jerry Brown, the Associated Press reports.
The ruling comes just two days after Brent was convicted of intoxication manslaughter for the fiery December 2012 crash, which occurred after a night of partying with fellow teammates. He could have faced as many as 20 years in prison.
Police reports showed that Brent’s blood alcohol level was 0.18 percent at the time he crashed his Mercedes on the suburban Dallas highway, more than twice the legal limit. Prosecutors had accused him of consuming up to 17 drinks on the fateful night.
His defense, however, claimed that it was impossible for the 320-pound lineman to have drunk that much, saying he was just "guilty of being stupid behind the wheel of a car."
According to the AP, Brent’s attorneys were pushing heavily for probation, especially since it would be easy to monitor the former defensive tackle because of "who he is and who he was."
The prosecution was pushing for prison time, pointing to previous records, such as Brent’s 2009 drunken-driving arrest—for which he served 30 days in prison after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge—as proof that he deserved to do time. "Probation doesn't work for Josh Brent," Rebecca Dodds, one of the prosecutors, told the jury during closing statements.
Brown’s mother, Stacey Jackson, had already publicly forgiven Brent, but on Thursday she reiterated her message. "He's still responsible, but you can't go on in life holding a grudge. We all make mistakes," she said.
Read more at the Daily News.