NEW ORLEANS — A New Orleans judge has handed down a reduced sentence for a drunk driver who killed two cyclists and injured seven other cyclists on Esplanade Avenue back in 2019.
A 4th Circuit Court of Appeals judge threw out the lengthy sentence last year, and on Thursday, officially re-sentenced Tashonty Toney, 35, to a reduced 65-year prison term, making him eligible for parole after 30 years.
His attorneys objected to Criminal District Judge Laurie White’s sentencing saying the judge didn’t give enough reasoning for her thinking behind the excessive prison sentence which led to the judge reducing Toney's prison sentence.
In 2019, Toney was sentenced to 91 years in prison on two counts of vehicular homicide and a list of misdemeanors after he drove his Chevrolet Camaro at nearly 80 mph, into a group of bicyclists on Esplanade Avenue shortly after the Krewe of Endymion parade.
Two cyclists were killed and seven others were injured. Reports show that Toney had a blood alcohol level of point-two-one at the time.
Toney was sentenced after being convicted on two counts of vehicular homicide and a list of misdemeanors.
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