KANSAS CITY —A judge sentenced a Kansas man to prison in connection with the June 2022 fatal crash at 75th and Ward Parkway that the defendant caused while driving intoxicated, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.
Zachary J. Zorich, 31, Prairie Village, earlier pleaded guilty to the Class B felony of Driving While Intoxicated -- Resulting in Death.
On Friday, the judge sentenced Zorich to 13 years in a Missouri prison. Prosecutors requested a sentence of 15 years, the maxiimum sentence for a Class B felony.
According to court records, Kansas City police officers were dispatched to a vehicular crash in the intersection of 75th and Ward Parkway. Police determined that the defendant's vehicle, a Jeep, was traveling at a high rate of speed as it approached Ward Parkway. It ran the red light and struck the victim's vehicle, a Mercedes Benz, in the side, at the driver's door.
The victim identified as 25-year-old Remington Williams, a recent University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law graduate who also served as a student representative to the University of Missouri Board of Curators was pronounced dead at the scene.
A DUI officer determined that the defendant should be placed under arrest for Driving While Intoxicated. His blood alcohol level was found, hours later, to have been more than 2.5 times the legal limit.