WINSTON-SALEM — WXII news anchor Tolly Carr will spend at least two years in prison after he pleaded guilty today to charges related to a fatal drunken-driving accident in March.
Carr, 32, pleaded guilty Monday morning to charges of felony death by motor vehicle, felony serious injury by vehicle and DWI.
Casey Bokhoven, 26, was killed in the March 11 accident. Winston-Salem police said Carr drove his Ford pickup through a construction zone, ran off the road and hit Bokhoven.
Shortly after 5 p.m., a judge sentenced Carr to between 25 and 39 months in Bokhoven's death. Carr also received a prison sentence for injuring a passenger in his vehicle, but the sentence was suspended for five years, meaning it will not be enforced if he stays out of trouble.
He will be given credit for the time served in jail while awaiting the court proceedings.
Carr will be on intensive probation after his release from prison and was ordered to do community service. His driver's license also was revoked and he was ordered to pay $10,000 to the public school system.
Prosecutors spent the morning presenting evidence, including testimony from police officers, on the events of that night. Carr sat stoically during the testimony.
Prosecutors showed photos of the accident scene, including some graphic photos showing Bokhoven's injuries. Some members of Bokhoven's family left before this; his brother, who stayed, began crying and looked away when he saw some of the photos.
Prosecutors were trying to establish that Carr was intoxicated that night. They used some of the photos to show the opportunities Carr had to stop before he struck Bokhoven. The road was closed at the time because of construction.
Police have said Carr's blood alcohol content was 0.13 percent about four hours after the wreck. In North Carolina, it is illegal to drive with a blood alcohol content of .08 or higher.
The defense spent much of Monday afternoon presenting mitigating factors that they hoped would lighten Carr's sentence.
Carr has been on unpaid leave from WXII since shortly after the accident.
He also faces a civil lawsuit that was filed in May on behalf of Bokhoven's father, Howard Bokhoven. The wrongful death lawsuit also names three bars that the lawsuit says served Carr the night that Bokhoven was killed.
Contact Jennifer Fernandez at 373-7064 or jfernandez@mews-record.com
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