A drunk driver who veered off the road and decapitated a friend who had leaned his head out a window was sentenced to five years in prison Wednesday.

John Kemper Hutcherson, 21, pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in the death last August of Frankie Brohm, 23, whose head was severed when the truck grazed a telephone pole guy wire.

The two were on their way home from a bar after a night of drinking when Brohm stuck his head out the window because he thought he was going to be sick, authorities said.

Police said Hutcherson was unaware of the decapitation and drove more than 10 miles to his parents’ home, went inside and fell asleep with the headless body still in his truck. A neighbor discovered the body the next morning.


Investigators said Hutcherson’s blood-alcohol level was probably more than twice the legal limit at the time of the accident.

Brohm’s family asked for leniency for Hutcherson, who was a childhood friend of the victim.