A U.S. Navy sailor was sentenced to five years in prison in the DUI-related death of a shipmate.
Joseph Nicholas Medina, 24, pleaded guilty to an aggravated involuntary manslaughter charge in the 2022 death of Zachary Michael Soussa in a car crash.
According to court documents, Medina had been drinking in downtown Norfolk with Soussa on the night of Dec. 9, 2022, and just after 2 a.m. on Dec. 10, he left downtown and was driving with Soussa as his passenger.
Medina was speeding eastbound on Virginia Beach Boulevard toward the intersection with Park Avenue when he lost control of his vehicle, drove up onto a median, collided with a tree, spun in the air, and hit a second tree.
The collision with the second tree ripped the front passenger door off Medina’s vehicle and caused Soussa to eject from the vehicle.
Soussa died on impact.
Medina was transported to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and treated for his injuries from the crash, and Norfolk Police detained him after he was discharged. Investigators served a search warrant on the hospital to obtain Medina’s medical records, and those records showed his blood alcohol content following the crash to have been 0.25.
Medina entered a plea agreement on June 7 to plead guilty to aggravated involuntary manslaughter and face a maximum active sentence of seven years, and Judge Jamilah D. LeCruise accepted his plea.
On Friday, LeCruise sentenced Medina to serve five years in prison and suspended another five years on the conditions that Medina be of uniform good behavior and comply with supervised probation for five years following his release.
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Chris Graham
