YouTube Drunk Driving Confessor Has ‘No Regrets’ About Video
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Because I Said I Would/YouTube(NEW YORK) — The man sentenced to six-and-a-half-years in prison after he confessed on YouTube to killing a man in a drunk driving accident says he has “no regrets whatsoever” about making the video and is relieved about his sentencing.
“As I stated in court, there’s no fair sentence when it comes to this case because the loss of someone’s life doesn’t coordinate to time,” Matthew Cordle, 22, told ABC’s Good Morning America Thursday. “Time doesn’t bring Mr. (Vincent) Canzani back so I’ll serve the time that the court sentences me to.”
Cordle said he knew the YouTube video would likely lead to jail time when he made it.
“It was in full knowledge of the possibility that I might get the maximum time when I put this on YouTube,” he said. “I knew it would be admissible in court and that’s why I even stated in the video I was well aware of what I was doing just so I couldn’t go back on it. I just put it out there because that message is more important than what time I serve.”
Cordle uploaded a three-and-a-half-minute video to YouTube on Sept. 3 in which he admitted to killing Vincent Canzani, 61, on June 22. Cordle’s face was initially pixelated in the video, but then he makes the big reveal, showing his face and making a stunning admission.
“My name is Matthew Cordle, and on June 22, 2013, I hit and killed Vincent Canzani,” he says. “This video will act as my confession.”
Cordle, who was found injured at the scene of the accident and brought to the hospital, had a blood-alcohol content measured at 0.19 after the accident. The stark video confession went viral.
On Wednesday, an Ohio judge sentenced Cordle to six-and-a-half-years in prison, less than the maximum possible sentance, despite an emotional plea from the victim’s daughter.
Cordle has vowed to devote himself to preventing others from drinking and driving.
He said he was relieved after the sentencing that his family “will get some closure” and he hopes the victim’s family will also “begin the healing process and start to move forward.”
Cordle said he wouldn’t do anything differently with the tape and has “no regrets whatsoever” about making it.
In court on Wednesday, Canzani’s daughter asked the judge to give Cordle the maximum sentence.
“I hope Matthew Cordle does raise awareness after he does time,” she said. “My father got a death sentence and did nothing wrong. Eight-and-a-half years is nothing. Less than that would be unjust. … He will still have his whole life ahead of him. My dad is never coming back.”
Prosecutors had also asked for the maximum sentence, saying that Cordle drove in spite of a history of blackouts after heavy drinking. His defense attorneys asked for a lighter sentence to send a message about the value of taking responsibility for one’s actions.
Cordle made a statement to the court before the sentencing and publicly apologized to the Canzani family.
“I am so sorry for the pain I have caused you, for the loved one I have taken from you,” he said to the family. “It should have been me that night, the guilty party, instead of an innocent man.”
He initially pleaded not guilty before Judge Julie Lynch on Sept. 11 in what was seen as a tactical move by his attorneys to have a new judge preside over his case.
A week later, before Judge David Fais, Cordle changed his plea to guilty on charges of aggravated vehicular homicide and driving under the influence.
Fais sentenced Cordle to six years for the aggravated vehicular homicide count and six months for operating a vehicle while impaired. He was given credit for 45 days served. The judge also ordered a lifetime suspension of his driving privileges.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio