ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A woman convicted of DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide in a 2019 crash that killed a St. Augustine man was sentenced Tuesday afternoon to 15 years in prison, the State Attorney’s Office said.
A St. Johns County jury in August found Grace King, 57, guilty of the charges.
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The Florida Highway Patrol said Grace King was driving impaired and speeding without her headlights on when her SUV crashed into a pickup truck driven by Desmond Oesterreicher on U.S. 1 on Feb. 4, 2019. Troopers said the accident occurred about 6:40 p.m. -- about 35 minutes after sunset.
According to the FHP report, King was going 89 mph northbound in a 60 mph zone when Oesterreicher’s Ford Ranger turned crossed the northbound lanes at the intersection of Stokes Landing Road, near Cornwell’s Market.
Oesterreicher, 57, died at the scene. King was seriously injured in the crash.
According to the FHP report, toxicology results showed King was “under the influence of both alcohol and controlled substances at the time of the crash.”
Oesterreicher was remembered by friends and family as a loving father and friend who spent his whole life in St. Augustine.
Friends told News4JAX that Oesterreicher never knew a stranger, made people smile and loved his family.
Oesterreicher left behind two children.
News4JAX found several previous citations for King in St. Johns County, including speeding six times and twice driving with a suspended or revoked license. She was also cited twice for speeding in Duval County.
King was also charged with DUI in 2019 after an incident on Town Center Parkway in Jacksonville in which she admitted to drinking and taking Xanax before driving, according to police. That was nearly four months after the fatal crash with Oesterreicher.