The Kalispell man who pleaded guilty to driving drunk and killing two people in an October 2013 crash was sentenced in Flathead County District Court on Tuesday to a 30-year prison term.
Joseph Leroy Powell, who was 46 at the time of the crash, pleaded guilty to two counts of vehicular homicide under the influence on March 20. Powell admitted to driving drunk and causing the crash that killed Brian Delaney, 43, of Kalispell, and Patrick Moulton, 43, of Kalispell on Oct. 17, 2013.
Powell did not have a plea agreement when he changed his plea to guilty in March.
According to charging documents, Montana Highway Patrol troopers were dispatched to the scene of a crash on U.S. Highway 93, south of Kalispell at mile marker 107, on Oct. 17 at about 11 p.m.
Three troopers investigating the scene determined that Powell had been driving northbound in the southbound lane when his Jeep hit a pickup truck. The driver of that truck, Delaney, was declared dead at the scene.
Moulton, who was the passenger in the Jeep Powell was driving, was taken to KRMC after the crash, but later died at the hospital.
Powell initially pleaded not guilty to the two homicide charges in November 2013.
At the May 13 sentencing hearing, the prosecution had multiple witnesses speak, including family members of the two victims. Powell testified on his own behalf as well.
District Court Judge Ted O. Lympus sentenced Powell to the maximum 30-year prison terms for both vehicular homicide charges, but the prison terms will run concurrently.
Lympus also mandated that Powell pay $5,473 in restitution, and attend the KNIGHTS program at Warm Springs, a program for offenders convicted of vehicular homicide under the influence.