January 21, 2020–6:55 a.m.

WZQZ RADIO

A Shannon, Georgia man was sentenced to prison last week after pleading guilty to first-degree vehicular homicide in a 2018 wreck that killed a Trion resident.

Sixty-four-year-old Earnest Irvin Greenleaf entered the plea in Floyd County Superior Court.  On January 9, 2018, Greenleaf was the driver of a vehicle that struck another vehicle driven by Trion resident Charles E. Buddy Hammonds.

The accident happened at the intersection of Highway 27 and Highway 140 in Floyd County.  At the time of the accident, law enforcement said that Greenleaf was under the influence of alcohol and they found numerous beer cans inside the pickup truck driven by Greenleaf.  Subsequent blood-alcohol tests revealed Greenleaf’s blood-alcohol level at .0999 – well over the legal limit.  Greenleaf was charged with DUI, open container and serious injury by vehicle and failure to yield the right-of-way at the time of the accident.  He was later charged with vehicular homicide.

Greenleaf was sentenced to fifteen years in prison and must serve at least five of those years in a Georgia State Prison.