Actor Lane Garrison was sentenced on October 31 to three years and four months in prison for a drunken driving crash that killed a 17-year-old Beverly Hills High School student in December.
Speaking to the former actor in the Prison Break FOX TV series, Superior Court Judge Elden S. Fox said "The public has a right to know that conduct such as this, causing devastation such as this will have consequences. Unfortunately, in this case, you have to be the messenger."
Garrison, 27, could have received nearly seven years behind bars. He had no reaction to the sentencing and was taken away in handcuffs.
Before the sentencing, he apologized to the family of Vahagn Setian. "I'm sick of my own behavior that night," he said. "This remorse is genuine. I feel it every day."
About 30 teenagers, many of them Beverly Hills High School students, attended the sentencing. Some wore T-shirts bearing Setian's photograph and the motto: "Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today."
Setian family spokesman James Lee said "I wouldn't characterize the family as being happy about this. Vahagn will not come back."
After the hearing, defense attorney Harlan Braun said his client "was hopeful [of leniency] but someone's dead and he's alive."
Setian was a passenger in the 2001 Land Rover that Garrison rammed into a tree on December 2. Two 15-year-old girls who were also in the vehicle survived.
Garrison met the teens at a grocery store and accompanied them to a party. At the time of the crash, Garrison's blood alcohol level stood at 0.20 percent, more than twice the legal limit for driving.
Police said he was also under the influence of cocaine. Garrison pleaded guilty in May to one count of vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence, one count of driving under the influence with a blood alcohol level of 0.15 or higher, and a misdemeanor of providing alcohol to a minor.
Fox imposed both prison time and four years' parole. He ordered Garrison to pay around $300,000 in restitution to the victims and their families.
