Man faces 10-year prison sentence after fatal 2025 crash that killed Emma Hackney
DALLAS, TX – At Thursday’s hearing, Magistrate Judge Anthony Randall sentenced a 27-year-old man to 10 years in prison for his role in a 2025 crash that killed a 29-year-old woman.
The sentence came after the 27-year-old man, Preston Petty, 27, pleaded guilty to intoxicated manslaughter with a motor vehicle, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and intoxicated assault with a motor vehicle.
If Petty had not pleaded guilty, then he could have potentially faced a 50-year prison sentence if convicted at a trial that could have begun on Monday.
The Back Story
The crash occurred on Nov. 30 on Turtle Creek Boulevard. On that day, Petty, who drove a Tesla at a high rate of speed, crashed into a few trees, which hit a crosswalk.
Petty’s Tesla then crashed into a curb in the median, went airborne, and crashed into a vehicle stopped at a red light.
The stopped vehicle overturned and the Tesla landed on top of it. One occupant from the struck vehicle, a 29-year-old Emma Hackney, succumbed to her injuries at the scene. Hackey’s mother, Dr. Gail Hackney, and her boyfriend Franklin Fotopoulos, who were also in Hackney’s vehicle, survived and suffered serious injuries.
Petty was later arrested and has remained jailed since.
At the hearing
Hackney’s family did not attend the hearing and asked prosecutors to read the impact statements written by Hackey’s mother, sister Maggie Pinholster, brother-in-law Ian Pinholster and Fotopoulos.
A statement from Maggie read, “Her death is constantly on my mind. The pain literally never goes away.”
Petty originally planned to apologize in the courtroom, but instead, will plan to write a letter to the family, Petty’s attorney, Peter Barrett said.
What’s Next?
Petty was given credit for the amount of jail time served and will be eligible for parole once he serves five years of jail time, Dallas County Assistant District Attorney Andrew James, chief of the office’s vehicular crimes unit, said.
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