Ex-Cowboy Josh Brent gets 10 years’ probation for intoxication manslaughter

Update at 11:20 a.m.: A jury sentenced Josh Brent to probation Friday for causing the December 2012 crash that killed his teammate and best friend Jerry Brown Jr.

In addition to a 10-year suspended sentence, Brent also faces 180 days in jail and was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. He could have been sentenced to up to 20 years in prison for the rollover crash on a State Highway 114 service road in Irving.

After reading the sentence, state District Judge Robert Burns scolded Brent for his actions.

“You are not the first Dallas Cowboy to kill someone with a vehicle,” the judge said, “but I hope you’re the last.”

Original entry (posted at 9:37 a.m.):A Dallas County jury has begun its second day of deliberations to determine a sentence for former Dallas Cowboy Josh Brent.

Follow developments on Twitter @dallascourts.

The same jury earlier this week convicted Brent, 25, of intoxication manslaughter for driving drunk and causing the high-speed rollover crash that killed his friend and teammate, Jerry Brown Jr., in December 2012.

Brent had a blood alcohol level of 0.18 - more than twice the legal limit to drive and was driving at least 110 miles an hour on and Irving service road when he flipped his white Mercedes. Neither man wore a seatbelt and the momentum if the crash threw Brown on top of Brent and cushioned Brent from serious injury.

They had been partying at a Dallas club with other Cowboys in the hours before the crash.

Prosecutiors Heath Harris, Jason Hermus, Becky Dodds and Gary McDonald are asking jurors for prison time. Brent faces up to 20 years in prison but is also eligible for probation.

Defense attorneys George Milner III, Kevin Brooks and Deandra Grant made a plea for probation.

The the jury deliberated less than an hour before being sequestered for the night at a hotel.

The trial has attracted national attention and has lasted longer that most trials in Dallas County except for those where prosecutors are seeking death in a capital murder case. Jury selection began Thursday, Jan. 9. Testimony began the following Monday.