Driver in fatal wrong-way accident sentenced to 10 years



SEATTLE -- A man who had gotten drunk, drove the wrong way on the SR 520 Bridge and plowed head-on into another car, killing the driver, tearfully apologized Friday before he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Michael Robertson, 25, had pleaded guilty to the DUI vehicular homicide charge.

He was drunk and driving the wrong way on the SR 520 Bridge in April when he slammed head-on into another car, killing Morgan Williams, 58.

Robertson, who was still in a wheelchair from the accident, cried throughout his sentencing hearing Friday and apologized to the victim's friends and family.

But Williams' life partner, Jerry Esterly, told Robertson, "I generally start to cry at 3:30 in the afternoon when she'd come home from work, and the dog waits by the door. I cry and then nighttime comes and that's when things get kind of tough."

Last year, a new law was enacted that doubled the standard range for vehicular homicide, making it equal to manslaughter.  That added two years to Robertson's sentence.