FARMINGTON — A Layton man was sentenced Tuesday to serve zero to five years in prison following a 2007 drunken driving incident in which his friend was killed.
Shane Leonelli, 24, pleaded guilty in 2nd District Court to automobile homicide negligence by DUI, a third-degree felony, in connection with the death of Brock Valempre, 26.
Valempre, a passenger in a car driven by Leonelli, was killed in a head-on collision on the frontage road by Lagoon in April 2007.
Leonelli was weaving and swerving before driving into oncoming traffic, Davis County Deputy District Attorney Troy Rawlings said last month. Leonelli's blood-alcohol content that night was 0.24, three times the legal limit, according to court documents.
In an unrelated incident in 2004, Leonelli, as a member of the Tooele High School baseball team, was charged along with six others with sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony, in 5th District Court in Washington County. Leonelli was 18 at the time and charged as an adult.
The baseball team had been in St. George for a tournament when some of the players invited a 15-year-old girl into their hotel room. According to court documents, one of the boys then videotaped the girl involved in sexual contact with members of the team.
The case was later transferred to 3rd District Court in Tooele, where Leonelli pleaded guilty to an amended class B misdemeanor. He was sentenced to 14 days in jail and put on 12 months of probation, according to court records.
e-mail: lgroves@desnews.com
