A DeKalb County man was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison for his involvement in a prom-night crash that killed a Lakeside High teacher.
Ramiro Gerrardo Pedemonte, 20, of Tucker, pleaded guilty to first-degree vehicular homicide, reckless driving, and three counts of serious injury by vehicle, DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office spokesman Marcus Garner said Wednesday. The wreck on April 25, 2015, killed Leah O’Brien, 33, who was one of Pedemonte’s teachers.
The accident on Scott Boulevard also injured O’Brien’s 8-year-old daughter, Kori, who suffered a traumatic brain injury and was in a coma for 13 days.
O’Brien was on her way to drop off her daughter, then to chaperone the Lakeside prom.
Pedemonte, who was 19 at the time of the accident, was traveling more than 100 miles per hour when the rental car he was driving T-boned O’Brien’s vehicle at the intersection with Ridley Drive in Decatur, Garner said.
Pedemonte and his passenger, Zana McGrit, also were on their way to the Lakeside prom.
After his prison term, Pedemonte will be on probation for 15 years and will have his license suspended for five years.
"(O'Brien) was always at the prom," Lakeside Principal Jason Clyne previously told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "She was one of the regulars."
Lakeside students didn’t find out why their teacher didn’t make it to the dance until the next day.
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