Henry CofrancescoA judge shot down a request Tuesday to reconsider a sentence he gave a Chattanooga man for causing a fatal wreck in 2016 while under the influence.
In July, Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Don Poole sentenced Henry Cofrancesco III to nine years in a Tennessee prison for vehicular homicide and another 11 months and 29 days for aggravated driving under the influence. Vehicular homicide, a Class B felony, carries eight to 12 years behind bars.
Cofrancesco, who asked for eight years during that hearing, wanted the judge to rethink his initial decision.
“We don’t see a situation – and the case law talks about this – where cars have to veer out of the way or there’s an immediate danger,” his attorney, Ben McGowan, argued Tuesday. “[Except] for the motorcycle coming over the horizon, there would not have been another accident.”
McGowan was referring to May 21, 2016, the night Cofrancesco pulled into the path of 60-year-old motorcyclist Robert Benedict on Lee Highway. Prosecutors said Cofrancesco had been drinking inside the Images nightclub with his girlfriend and left after getting into an argument. After he struck Benedict, he went back inside the bar, said Assistant District Attorney Kate Lavery, who added that Cofrancesco had a blood alcohol content of .612.