Ex-WWE star Tamara ‘Sunny’ Sytch sentenced to 17 years for fatal DUI crash

WWE Hall of Famer Tamara Lynn “Sunny” Sytch was sentenced to 17 years in prison on Monday for driving while drunk in Florida and causing the death of a man in a crash.

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Sytch, 50, a women’s pro wrestler and manager who was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2011, also received eight years of probation for the March 25, 2022, crash that killed Julian Lafrancis Lasseter, 75, WFTV reported.

Sytch pleaded no contest on Aug. 26 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.

According to a news release from the Ormond Beach Police Department, Sytch was driving a 2012 Mercedes southbound on U.S. 1 around 8:28 p.m. on March 25, 2022. Police said Sytch hit a 2013 Kia Sorrento driven by Lasseter, 75, which was stopped at a traffic light.

The impact sent the Kia into the rear of a 2011 GMC Yukon, which was stopped in front of the Kia at the light, according to the news release.

Lasseter died after the Mercedes hit his car, police said. The passengers in the third car were injured but did not go to the hospital, according to the news release.

According to court records, Sytch’s blood-alcohol content was between 0.32 and 0.36 just less than an hour after the crash. The legal limit in Florida is 0.08.

Prosecutors said Sytch had three different DUI arrests and convictions in 2015, and was also driving with a suspended license at the time of the 2022 crash, WFTV reported.

She faced up to 25 years in prison.

On Monday, Sytch addressed Lasseter’s family in court and apologized.

“If I could bring Mr. Lasseter back and take his place I would in an instant,” Sytch said.

Wrestling as Sunny, Sytch debuted in the Smoky Mountain Wrestling promotion in the early 1990s, according to the WWE Encyclopedia. She debuted as a manager in 1995 and later became a broadcaster and ring announcer.

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