CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) - A 43-year-old suburban St. Louis man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing a woman by slamming into her SUV while he was street racing during a night of drinking and smoking marijuana.
Haven Sooter, of Ladue, pleaded guilty in September to second-degree murder and DWI-repeat offender charges for his role in the July 2016 crash that killed Kathleen Koutroubis. Koutroubis, 73, had just left dinner at a friend’s home in Frontenac when the car Sooter was driving slammed into her SUV on Lindbergh Boulevard in St. Louis County.
Assistant Prosecutor Jason Denney told Circuit Judge Kristine Kerr during Friday’s sentencing hearing that he believed Sooter belongs in prison, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
“Mrs. Koutroubis chose to have dinner with a lifelong friend,” Denny said. “For that she got a death sentence.”
The man Sooter was racing that night, Scott Bailey, was convicted of second-degree manslaughter in 2018 and sentenced to 60 days in jail and five years of probation. He received a lighter sentence than Sooter because he didn’t have a history of drunken driving, the judge said Friday.
Sooter was initially found mentally unfit to stand trial but was later deemed competent. His lawyer, Matt Fry, on Friday questioned a psychiatrist who diagnosed Sooter with neurological cognitive disorder and said Sooter “would not fare well in a correctional setting.”
Since the crash, Sooter has had several strokes, and he walks with a cane and has limited movement on the right side of his body.
Authorities said Sooter and Bailey were racing at up to 121 mph seconds before the crash. An assistant prosecutor said Sooter had slowed to 80 mph at impact.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.