The night William Guyaux was killed, he had been grieving the death of a friend.

Both he and Edward Wharton, 60, were out drinking the evening of Oct. 20, 2019, in Wilmerding and Monroeville.

Both men were drunk, said defense attorney Patrick Thomassey, and it was Guyaux who asked Wharton to drive.

Wharton did, and crashed on the Tri-Boro Expressway.

Guyaux, 55, of North Versailles, was killed.

Wharton, whose blood alcohol level was 0.234%, was charged with homicide by vehicle.

On Tuesday, Wharton, who pleaded guilty in November, was ordered to serve one to two years incarceration by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Susan Evashavik DiLucente.

According to investigators, Wharton drank at least 15 alcoholic beverages at the Ukrainian Club in Wilmerding, and then he and Guyaux went to Monroeville Fire Dept. No. 3, where Wharton drank more.

They left just before 8 p.m. and crashed two minutes later.

Wharton, driving his 2000 Toyota Tundra westbound, was traveling between 57 and 67 mph when he struck a jersey barrier on the expressway between Turtle Creek and Wilmerding and lost control.

The vehicle rolled several times and came to a rest almost 1,000 feet away. Guyaux was ejected.

In a victim impact statement, Guyaux’s four sisters, Tammy Stophel, Lori Guyaux, Dorene Guyaux and Donene Guyaux, described him as loving and caring, with two children and seven grandchildren.

His best friend, they wrote, was his pet dog, Boo Doggy, who was so upset by Guyaux’s death that he stopped eating, became depressed and died three months later.

“And now, over three years later, we’re still living with the grief, pain, instability and uncertainty because of his death,” they wrote. “The pain, to many, has been immeasurable.”

Thomassey told the court that Wharton, who spent 20 months on house arrest, drove that night because his friend begged him to.

“They were both drunk,” Thomassey said. “He is in jail the rest of his life because he has to live with it.”

• North Versailles man pleads guilty to 2019 fatal crash on Tri-Boro Expressway • Driver in fatal 2019 crash on Tri-Boro Expressway charged

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