Driver Gets 37 Months in Trace Cyclists’ Death

OXFORD, Miss. (WCBI) — A Tishomingo man accused of killing two motorcyclists on the Natchez Trace Parkway in August has been sentenced to more than three years in prison.

Donnie William Sartain, 50, of Tishomingo appeared before Judge Michael Mills in U.S. District Court in Oxford Thursday. Sartain was sentenced to 37 months in prison and three years of probation.

Sartain accepted a plea agreement and pleaded guilty to the lesser charges of involuntary manslaughter. He was initially charged with two counts of murder, after drifting into an oncoming lane and struck a motorcycle while allegedly under the influence of alcohol.

The accident claimed the life of Pauline Demers, 56, and Gerard Nault, 56, of Canada.