Months after he was convicted in a fatal impaired driving crash dating back to November, 2011, Jonathan Pratt heard his sentence in a Wetaskiwin courtroom Thursday.

Jonathan Pratt learned his fate late Thursday afternoon; he was sentenced to eight years behind bars, along with a lifetime driving ban.

He was convicted in May, on three counts each of manslaughter and impaired driving causing death in the collision on November 26, 2011 that killed Bradley Arsenault, 18, Kole Novak, 18, and Thaddeus Lake, 22.

At about 3 a.m. that day, Pratt was found to be driving at 199 kilometres per hour in his pickup truck, and was found to have a blood alcohol content two and a half times the legal limit, when he hit the car carrying the three boys.

In court Thursday, Pratt sat in the prisoner’s box, and showed little emotion as more than a dozen victim impact statements were read in court.

Outside of court, family members of the victims talked about the sentence.

“I’m very glad that the justice end of this is over, that has been very very hard on all the families,” Sheri Arsenault, mother of Bradley Arsenault, said. “The outcome, I don’t want to use the word happy because there’s no such thing as that word, regarding something like this. But I am pleased with the outcome.”

“It is kind of what I thought it would be, eight years, I was hoping it would maybe be ten, set a little bit of a precedent,” Zane Novak, father of Kole Novak, said outside of court. “I think that if there’s ever been a case in recent history, before the courts that really could have set a distinct precedent, this would have been it.”

As for the sentence, the judge said a severe punishment was needed – while he has been handed a lifetime driving prohibition, he will be eligible to apply for the Interlock program after five years.

With files from Amanda Anderson