BY BETH VELLIQUETTE

bvelliquette@heraldsun.com; 918-1042

CHAPEL HILL -- Christopher Kearney, who once had a bright future as a tennis star at UNC, was sentenced to serve 10 to 12 months in prison Monday for driving while impaired and running down two other UNC students a year ago.

Kearney, who was 20 at the time of the wreck, pleaded guilty in Orange County Criminal Superior Court in Hillsborough to driving while impaired, driving after consuming while under 21 years of age, reckless driving, consumption of alcohol by a person 19 or 20, two counts of having an altered or fictitious driver's license and two counts of causing serious injury by a motor vehicle.

Kearney, who now lives in California with his family, entered into a plea agreement in which two counts of felony hit and run were dismissed. The plea was an "open plea," meaning no deal was struck as to the length of sentence.

He was driving south on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on Aug. 17, 2008, one of the first days UNC students were back in town for the fall semester, when he ran off the road and hit two pedestrians.

Kearney, who was not legally allowed to drink, testified that he drank about 12 beers from about 3 or 4 p.m. the previous day until he ran off the road at the curve in front of the Chapel Hill Fire Department and hit the two female students about 2:15 a.m. the next day.

He testified that he knew he was intoxicated and shouldn't drive, but a friend had called him to ask him to pick her up and take her home, so he got in his sport utility vehicle and drove downtown to pick her up.

Meanwhile, two sisters, Carolyn and Carrie Kubitschek, and their friend, Casey LeSawyer, were walking home from the downtown area north on North Columbia Street.

Kearney missed the curve, ran off the road and hit Carolyn Kubitschek and LeSawyer. Carrie Kubitschek was able to run out of the path of Kearney's SUV.

Both Kubitschek and LeSawyer were knocked 30 to 50 feet from the scene of the impact, and both suffered severe leg and pelvic injuries.

A police officer testified that when he arrived on the scene, a drunken Marine who had been in Iraq was holding onto Kearney and yelling at him to get down in the sand. About 200 people had gathered at the scene of the accident.

At the Police Department, Kearney registered a blood-alcohol level of .18 on a breath test, but was polite and cooperative, the officer said.

Kubitschek and her father testified that she had compound fractures in her legs, with her bones sticking out through the skin. She also had road rash along her back and other cuts and contusions. Kubitschek was hospitalized for a couple of weeks and underwent multiple surgeries, including an emergency operation that day to save her leg. She had rods and pins inserted into her legs, and it wasn't until about Thanksgiving that she was able to walk without a cane.

Kubitschek testified the pain was so bad during various times after the accident that she wasn't sure she wanted to continue living.

"I thought if this is what it's going to be like, I don't want to live," she said.

LeSawyer also suffered multiple injuries including her pelvis broken in four or five different places. She, too, underwent surgeries and was not able to walk without a cane until about Christmas of that year.

Both women loved to play soccer but said they don't expect they will be able to play again.

Kubitschek's father, Ken Kubitschek, testified about the traumatic effect it had on both his daughters. The one who witnessed the accident and found her sister wrapped around a boulder by a tree suffered serious mental anguish and ended up dropping out of school that year, he said.

"The ripple effect of one careless individual is extremely profound," he said.

He asked that Kearney be sentenced to at least one year in prison.

LeSawyer, however, testified for the defense and said she has met and talked with Kearney, who flew from California to her home in Asheville to apologize to her in person. She asked the judge not to send Kearney to prison.

"Chris made a mistake," she said. "He never tried to hurt us."

"I do not want to see Chris in prison," LeSawyer said.

A number of people testified for the defense that Kearney was an outstanding young man who never caused trouble and was extremely remorseful for what had happened.

Robin Nelson, the assistant tennis coach for the University of California Irvine, testified that he reached out to Kearney a day or two after Kearney returned to California after the accident.

Kearney began first speaking to a group of high school tennis students about the accident he caused by driving drunk, and eventually he began talking to athletes at UC Irvine, Nelson said. His talks had an impact on the students, some of whom told the coach they would not drive after drinking, he said.

Kearney took the stand at the end of the hearing, and in a halting voice, apologized for what he had done.

"I am so, so sorry for getting behind that wheel and hitting your daughter," Kearney said to Ken Kubitschek.

To Carolyn Kubitschek, he said, "I hope that one day you will be able to forgive me because I am so sorry for causing so much pain to you."

The judge, Paul Ridgeway from Wake County, sentenced Kearney to one 10-to-12-month sentence in prison for one of the cases, followed by a second 10-to-12-month sentence for the other case. He suspended the second sentence and ordered Kearney to be on supervised probation for 36 months after he is released from prison.

After the sentencing, as the deputies waited to take Kearney to prison, he and his mother embraced, his mother sobbing loudly.