Driver gets 60 years in deaths of 4 Ohioans

FATAL CRASH /

A Florida man was convicted and received a 60-year prison sentence Thursday for driving drunk and causing a crash that killed four softball players from a central Ohio softball team in September 2016.

Cody Austin Shirah, 22, was convicted by a jury after a trial in Bay County Circuit Court in Panama City, Florida.

Shirah was found guilty of four counts of driving under the influence manslaughter, driving under the influence with bodily injury and fleeing the scene of a crash. Circuit Judge Michael Overstreet sentenced Shirah to 60 years in prison, according to the Panama City News Herald.

Members of the Columbusbased XTreme Associates slow-pitch softball team were in Panama City for the World Sports League World Softball Championships.

Five members of the team were in a Dodge Grand Caravan when a Ford 150 pickup truck driven by Shirah ran a stop sign and struck the minivan on Sept. 17, 2016, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Anthony Gouge, 30, of Columbus, and Eric Young, 25, of Chillicothe, died at the crash scene. William Gouge II, 29, of Columbus, who was the cousin of Anthony Gouge, and Joshua Martin, 33, of Columbus, later died in a local hospital from injuries sustained in the crash.

Craig Jackson of London, Ohio, the minivan driver, was critically injured in the crash but survived.