CLEVELAND — 20-year-old Khaleel Johnson has been sentenced to serve 15 to 18.5 years in prison weeks after pleading guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide connected to a deadly University Heights crash that happened back in May.
"I can't imagine having to deal with these losses daily," Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Richard A. Bell said after announcing his decision for sentencing Monday morning.
Johnson's license has also been suspended for life. Court costs and fines were waived as he also received credit for time served at 181 days.
You can watch the entire sentencing hearing, which we streamed live in the video below:
The case dates back to May 27 when University Heights officers responded to the area of Cedar and Brockway for a fiery crash around 4:27 p.m.
Upon their arrival, authorities say officers found two vehicles on fire, one on top of the other, next to an electrical pole.
“Once the fires were extinguished, it was discovered each vehicle had one unidentified deceased person inside,” according to the initial press release from police.
The victims were later identified as 20-year-old Marlon Emory of South Euclid and 57-year-old John Nelson of Akron.
Prior to the sentence being announced, multiple people made victim impact statements while addressing the judge -- including Emory's mother, Shara Brewer.
"Please consider this hole that’s in my heart that will never be filled," she told the judge. "Please consider the grief that I and his twin brother and siblings will have to deal with for the rest of our lives."
She noted that her son would have turned 21 this coming Saturday.
Nelson's wife, Charity, also spoke to the judge while asking for the maximum sentence.
“His inconsiderate and thoughtless behavior took a great man off of God’s earth," she said. "He deserves the harshest sentence possible, and I hope and pray that if he ever walks free again that you think about your actions because he’s a murderer.”
Johnson, who was 19 at the time of the crash, was arrested on May 30. He pleaded guilty to charges in the case back on Nov. 7. He offered a brief statement during the sentencing hearing to apologize to the families.