A non-Indian man was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison for killing two people on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

Timothy Hotz, 61, pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter. He admitted he was drinking and driving when he struck Robert Whirlwind Horse, 23, and Calonnie Randall, 26, as they were walking along a highway last August.

"The defendant hit them so hard he blew them right out of their shoes, their socks and their pants," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Mara Kohn, The Rapid City Journal reported. "Then, he left."

Hotz could have faced a harsher sentence had the crime occurred off the reservation. Federal law does not provide for vehicular homicide charge that would have been available in South Dakota or Nebraska.

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Neb. man who struck and killed two people near Pine Ridge gets 51 months in prison (The Rapid City Journal 3/31)