Former WWE Star Sentenced to 17 Years After Fatal DUI Crash

Tamara 'Tammy' Sytch wrestled as 'Sunny'
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 28, 2023 2:00 AM CST
Former WWE Star Sentenced to 17 Years After Fatal DUI Crash
This undated photo provided by the Branford Police Department shows Tamara Sytch.   (AP Photo/Branford Police Department)

A former WWE wrestler was sentenced to more than 17 years behind bars Monday after a DUI crash last year in Florida that left a 75-year-old man dead. Police say Tamara "Tammy" Sytch, who went by "Sunny" during her wrestling days, had a blood alcohol content four times the legal limit when she ran into Julian LaFrancis Lasseter's car while he was stopped at a red light, and that she later admitted to drinking vodka before the crash. She pleaded no contest to one count of DUI manslaughter; driving while license suspended with death; four counts of DUI with damage to person; and two counts of DUI with damage to property, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reports.

She also received eight years of probation following her incarceration, during which time she must meet certain conditions including substance abuse evaluation. Her attorneys had argued she has mental health issues and had suffered trauma and abuse during her lifetime and should be granted leniency; Sytch, who was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2011, had faced up to 26 years in prison, ClickOrlando reports. But prosecutors argued for a harsher sentence, pointing out that in 2015, Sytch was arrested three times in a one-month period for drunk driving in Pennsylvania. She had also previously violated probation in another case, and her driver's license was suspended at the time of the crash, Fox 35 Orlando reports. (More WWE stories.)

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