Today, Matthew Cordle, the drunk driver who released a YouTube video last month confessing that he'd killed 61-year-old Vincent Canzani, was delivered a sentence of six-and-a-half years by an Ohio judge. CNN has a video of the ruling.

Around three in the morning on Saturday, June 22, after a night of bar-hopping with his buddies, the 22-year-old Columbus resident drove his truck "completely blacked out" into oncoming traffic, where his vehicle hit and killed Canzani, a divorced Navy submarine veteran with two daughters. Cordle, who'd been speeding the wrong way on a highway, survived with injuries.

As prosecutors were still building a case against him for the fatal crash, Cordle shot and released a video confessing to the crime, declaring, “When I get charged, I will plead guilty and take full responsibility for everything I’ve done to Vincent and his family.”

Cordle did plead guilty, after a grand jury indicted him on charges of aggravated vehicular homicide and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. He faced a maximum sentence of eight-and-a-half years.

The Columbus Dispatch has video of Canzani's daughter asking the court to deliver a maximum sentence, saying, "The message I do not want to send is that if you hit and kill somebody, all you have to do is admit to it later and get leniency." In that same clip, Cordle reads a statement to Canzani's family, apologizing for his actions, stating, "It should have been me that night—the guilty party—instead of an innocent man."

Franklin County Judge David Fais sentenced Cordle to six years on the aggravated vehicular homicide charge and six months on drunken driving, terms that will be served consecutively. Cordle is reportedly ineligible for early release from prison and his driver’s license is suspended for life.

[images via AP Photo/Tony Dejak]