Man sentenced in DUI death

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - He risked his life fighting fires each and every day, but it was an off duty motorcycle crash that ended up killing an Orange County firefighter.

Mike Priester died in February 2009. He was on his motorcycle driving home from work when he was killed by a drunk driver. On Monday, that driver learned his punishment, and plenty of firefighters were on hand to watch justice be served.

The courtroom could neither hold back the emotions nor the people. Several Orange County firefighters had to fill the hallway. Almost a dozen witnesses asked the judge to give Raymond Youngblood the maximum 15 years in prison for killing Michael Priester.

“Mr. Youngblood, shame on you! You took my brother! No mercy for you sir,” said Lt. David Oliver.

Priester was a brother to the firefighters and a newlywed husband to Charlene. “I’m hoping to feel better, but haven’t,” said Charlene Priester. “I cry every single day. I miss him so much.”

Youngblood, a 62-year-old self-confessed alcoholic, has three previous dui convictions. He was going over 80 miles per hours, down the wrong way of a highway and had twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system when he crashed into Priester’s motorcycle head-on.

Before judgment, Youngblood shed some tears of his own and had this apology.

“I apologize to the family and brothers in the fire department,” he said.

Then the judge made her decision, sentencing Youngblood to 12 years in prison. He must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence, which would put him up for parole in about ten years when he is 72-years-old. He will also serve three years of probation.