LaKeisha Peterson told the court Thursday that John Edward Powers killed a part of her the same night he killed her sister by hitting her head-on while driving under the influence and in the wrong direction on State 79.
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“We will never stop missing her. We will never stop loving her,” Peterson told the court at sentencing, her husband at her side comforting her. “All of that was stolen because someone made a selfish, deadline decision. And we are the ones who have to live with the consequences … and pick up the shattered pieces.”
Prosecutor Peter Overstreet, who led jurors to guilty verdicts for DUI-Manslaughter and 2 counts of DUI With Serious Bodily Injury at Powers’ April trial, asked for the maximum sentence.
“It’s obvious that this was inevitable based upon the defendant’s inability to stop drinking and driving,” Overstreet said, referencing the defendant’s prior convictions for traffic offenses and charges like DUI and Reckless Driving with Property Damage. “The sad thing is it could have been anyone he hit that night, but it was them.”
Powers was then sentenced to 15 years for DUI-Manslaughter, to be served consecutively with a 5-year sentence on DUI With Serious Bodily Injury for one passenger, and another consecutive 5-year sentence for the same charge on another passenger. A fourth passenger received minor injuries.
Overstreet called 13 witnesses over two days to prove Powers, with a .20 blood-alcohol level, was driving south in the northbound lanes of State 79 on Aug. 7, 2021. He hit a northbound car driven by Savannah Desiree Gandy head-on a few miles north of Panama City Beach near County 388. It is illegal in Florida to drive with a blood-alcohol level of .08 or higher.
Gandy and passenger Justin Weston had critical injuries, including broken femurs.
“What these victims’ families have been through is unimaginable, but it did not stop this defendant from making the decision to drink and drive with more than twice the legal blood-alcohol level,” Overstreet said after the trial. “The Bay County Sheriff’s Office deputies who arrived first had to make order of a complicated, evidence-filled scene with multiple injured people. And the Florida Highway Patrol investigators were able to take that evidence and help us prove the defendant was at fault.”
“The family members’ support and assistance has been invaluable as well.”
Lakeisha Peterson said the details of the complicated investigation came together for her and the family as Overstreet walked them through the process. And they thanked him, Victim Advocate Patty Freeman and the State Attorney’s Office for what they saw as their full support.
“I want people to know that y’all went above and beyond, very, very much, for everything Mr. Overstreet and the office did for this family,” said Peterson, who lives in Tennessee. “There were just so many things I did not know understand about this process, that were hard for the others to articulate well, and they were there for us.”
Basford thanked the family, and the Bay County Sheriff’s Office and Florida Highway Patrol for their lengthy investigations that helped lead to the guilty verdicts.
For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.