Mobile, Alabama, Judge Wesley Pipes sentenced 48-year-old Harvey Caffey Jr. to life in prison Wednesday for his involvement in a drinking-related traffic accident that killed another driver, according to Fox 10.
The incident occurred in 2020, and the collision killed 24-year-old Kenneth Rudolph, who was a passenger in the other vehicle, according to Fox 10. After hearing evidence Caffey was drinking and driving and on his phone at the time of the accident, a jury found him guilty of reckless murder.
“This is the worst DUI-related homicide I have ever seen or heard of,” Pipes said of the incident.
Decrying ‘worst DUI-related homicide’ he’s seen, judge sentences Theodore man to life https://t.co/R6ogbrBa9W
— FOX10News | WALA (@FOX10News) March 27, 2024
Before this incident, Caffey had eight previous DUI arrests and five convictions, Fox 10 reported. (RELATED: Driver Charged After Allegedly Hitting Grammy-Winning Star With His Car And Proceeding To Drive With Body Stuck In Windshield: Police)
Pipes’s decision to give Caffey the maximum sentence came after he learned of a report in Mississippi’s Stone County where police arrested Caffey for yet another DUI, according to Fox 10. After a jury indicted Caffey on his most recent charge, he was told not to drive or leave the state.
Defense attorney Jerome Carter fought to get Caffey’s sentence reduced, stating that Caffey understood he was going to prison and had “a problem that needs to be addressed,” Fox 10 reports.
In court, Rudolph’s mother Tracy Singh reflected on the incident’s effects.
“He doesn’t know what a great child, person, that he took from this earth,” she said.