Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Timesa

Brooks Ryan Leisure stands with Assistant Roanoke Public Defender Rachel Jackson during his sentencing. Leisure had been in Virginia for two weeks when the crash occurred.

Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Timesa

Rocky Mount Police Chief Erik Mollin and Charlotte Maxey listen to Brooks Ryan Leisure read a letter to the family of Jason Maxey during Leisure's sentencing Thursday in Roanoke Circuit Court.

Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Timesa

Charlotte Maxey, mother of the deceased Jason Maxey, holds a photo of her son Thursday during the sentencing of Brooks Ryan Leisure. Maxey asked the judge if Leisure could serve his sentence in Ohio, but the judge said that wasn't allowed.

Jason William Maxey served in the U.S. Navy and the Army National Guard. He worked first as a Botetourt County deputy, then a Rocky Mount police officer.

Brooks Ryan Leisure was convicted in 2004 in Ohio of driving under the influence, and with difficulty he completed a substance abuse treatment program.

Leisure had been in Virginia only two weeks when he drove the wrong way onto U.S. 220 in Roanoke with a blood-alcohol content of more than twice the legal limit and killed Maxey in a head-on collision.

Wednesday, as Roanoke Circuit Court Judge William Broadhurst prepared to send Leisure to prison, he reflected on how there's no way to predict the harm a drunk driver can cause. "There's simply nothing that an ordinary citizen can do to avoid the next driver coming around the corner that's intoxicated," he said.

The judge levied a sentence of 11 years in prison with 10 more suspended for driving under the influence and aggravated involuntary manslaughter, telling Leisure, "Your conduct was extreme at just about every point."

Broadhurst added that the 26-year-old's actions the night before the Oct. 11 crash amounted to criminal conduct "even had you been absolutely sober."

Before learning his sentence, Leisure read a statement in which he apologized to Maxey's friends and family. He said he didn't understand how his life went so wrong and remembered nothing from the night of the crash.

He said he would be haunted for the rest of his life by his bad decision: "I have someone's life on my hands who was loved by so many."

The slain officer's mother, Charlotte Maxey, gave tearful testimony about what the loss of her son has meant to her family. Jason Maxey, who was 34 when he was killed, was an only child, she said. "We have no one to look after us when we get old."

Her son was physically strong, but gentle with children and those he encountered while serving in the military or in the police force who needed his aid, she said.

"We don't ask for lenience for Mr. Leisure because he had so many chances to turn his life around before he came to Virginia," she said.

She did request that Leisure be allowed to serve his sentence in Ohio so his family could see him -- a request that Broadhurst said he legally could not grant.

Roanoke prosecutor Wanda DeWease pointed out that Leisure made one bad decision after another in the hours before Maxey's death.

He drank beer and shots at two different restaurants, smoked marijuana and ignored a warning from an acquaintance that he was too intoxicated to drive, she said.

He failed to notice several wrong-way signs and attempts by witnesses to get his attention as he drove the wrong way up an exit ramp and sped north on southbound U.S. 220 at more than 60 mph, the prosecutor said. "What we have here is a young man who flagrantly thumbed his nose at the legal system," she said.

DeWease expressed gratitude to all the witnesses who came forward to help police after the crash. "The Roanoke community came together," she said.

After the hearing, Rocky Mount Police Chief Erik Mollin said he felt Broadhurst's sentence was fair. He said he considered Maxey a friend, and said that because he was a police officer, many in Franklin County knew him, making his death a community's tragedy.

Evidence revealed when Leisure pleaded guilty in February showed that Maxey had a blood-alcohol content of 0.09 percent the night of his death. The legal limit is 0.08 percent.

Maxey was off duty, driving his personal vehicle.

Mollin noted that police officers have the right to drink socially just like any other citizen.

He said that when Maxey got behind the wheel that night, "I'm sure he felt as though he was within the legal limit."

He noted that prosecutors have emphasized that no problems were ever observed with Maxey's driving and that nothing he did caused the crash.