A drunk driver who killed four people at 2014’s South By Southwest festival in Texas when he was trying to avoid a police traffic stop has been jailed for life.
Rashad Owens’ car plowed into a crowd of SXSW revellers in downtown Austin in March of last year and he was charged with the capital murder of four people. A number of others were injured in the incident.
Prosecutors said he was drunk at the time and his defence team called no witnesses at his week-long trial, Keye TV reports. The verdict means he will automatically spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Family members of the victims addressed Owens, 23, in court, with Shon Cook, mother of victim Jamie West, saying: “Her husband is broken beyond repair. I pray to God that he heals a little bit.”
