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Barton Farris West, 57, received the sentence from Judge Andrew Blum in the Lakeport division of Lake County Superior Court.
West's attorney, Komnith Moth, did not return messages seeking comment.
West was charged with second-degree murder and a previous strike for the crash, which occurred on Sept. 15, 2009, and later claimed the life of 84-year-old Nice resident Jack Bernard Green, according to Deputy District Attorney John Langan.
Langan said West, who was on probation for a previous DUI charge at the time of the collision, had been drinking a half-gallon of vodka since the night before the crash, and had a blood alcohol level of more than two and a half times the legal limit of 0.08 when the incident occurred.
People tried to stop him from driving to his DUI class but, Langan said, “He ignored their warnings.”
By ignoring those who tried to stop him from driving, West's case demonstrated the “implied malice” needed to charge second-degree murder, Langan said.
The original report from the California Highway Patrol stated that the crash occurred shortly before 1 p.m. on the Nice-Lucerne Cutoff near the Rodman Slough.
It was triggered when West's 1985 Toyota Tercel, which was heading westbound, crossed the double-yellow lines and hit two vehicles traveling the opposite direction.
West's Tercel hit the left side of a 2000 Dodge Caravan driven by Salvador Velazquez of Nice before hitting the left front of Green's 2003 Ford Focus.
All three men were transported to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital for treatment, with West arrested afterward, the CHP report said.
Langan said Green would never be released from the hospital. His family would have him transported to Reno for treatment, where he eventually succumbed to his injuries later in 2009.
When the District Attorney's Office received the report on the cause of Green's death, which was attributed to the injuries he sustained in the crash, Langan said they amended the charges filed against West to allege murder because of his “severe prior criminal history.”
Langan said that included two prior DUI convictions, one of which West was on probation for at the time of the crash; an out-of-state bank robbery conviction for which West did time in the Fort Leavenworth federal penitentiary; a criminal threats case in Oklahoma; and a felony escape charge, also in another state.
He said the District Attorney's Office was able to present enough evidence on the bank robbery charge to present it as a previous strike in the case.
Langan said he reached a plea agreement with West and his attorney.
In exchange for West pleading guilty to murder and sparing Green's family from a trial, Langan agreed to allege the bank robbery strike under a lesser penal code section that would only add another five years to West's sentence.
Altogether the agreement shaved 10 years off the prison time West could have faced and allowed him to be eligible for parole 10 years earlier, Langan said.
Still, by the time West will be eligible for parole, he'll be very elderly, Langan pointed out. He added that he doesn't believe West ever will be paroled due to his record.
During Monday's sentencing, Green's three adult children shared victim impact statements, Langan said. They also showed pictures of Green to the court and West.
West didn't speak during the sentencing hearing, Langan said. However, West had offered a written statement to the court.
Langan, paraphrasing the one-sentence statement, said West claimed not to remember anything that happened at the time of the crash because he blacked out.
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