Matthew Cordle Indicted After YouTube Confession: Drunk Driver Faces 8 Years for Man's Death (VIDEO)
A man who confessed to killing a man while driving under the influence of alcohol in a YouTube video was indicted Monday on felony charges.
Mathe Cordle's YouTube confession drew over 1.2 million hits after it was posted Friday to a site named "because I said so." In the video, Cordle admitted guilt to killing Vincent Canzani, a 61-year-old man who died in June when he hit his Jeep on Interstate 670 near Columbus, Ohio.
"My name is Mathew Cordle, and on June 22, 2013, I hit and killed Vincent Canzani," Cordle said in the video. "This video will act as my confession. When I get charged, I will plead guilty and take full responsibility for everything I've done to Vincent and his family. ... I won't dishonor Vincent's memory by lying about what happened."
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Cordle also claimed that "all I would have to do is lie" in order to potentially escape punishment, but prosecutor Ron O'Brien said that was not the case.
"We had a case against him based on the evidence as I know it before the video was filmed," he told CNN News.
Instead, some have accused Cordle of making the video in an attempt to gain leniency from the court. Cordle's lawyer, George S. Breitmayer III, said leniency was not the goal of Cordle's video. Instead, he argued that the 22-year-old's video was an attempt to raise awareness about an issue that he did not take seriously and now regrets.
"Despite any speculation of his intentions, the video was meant to raise awareness related to the serious issues surrounding drinking and driving," the defense lawyer said in a statement. "In addition, (Cordle) hopes his confession will offer the Canzanis some level of closure by avoiding any lengthy, drawn out legal proceedings."
Cordle could face a maximum of eight years in prison if convicted.
