YOUNGSTOWN — A local businessman convicted of a drunken driving death will spend six years in prison.

James Stehura, 50, of Austintown, received the sentence Friday morning — just a little over a year after the crash — from Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony Donofrio. He also received a seven-year license suspension. Stehura pleaded guilty Feb. 4 to one count each of aggravated vehicular homicide and failure to stop after a crash, both third-degree felonies.

The sentencing concludes the case that began with the March 11, 2024, death of Linda Adams, 66, as she and her wife were walking their dog on Lancaster Drive. Stehura hit Adams with his pickup truck — after consuming nine alcoholic drinks at a local bar — then briefly stopped before speeding off to hide his truck in the garage at his tree-cutting business.

The plea deal, which gives Stehura a four-year sentence for the vehicular homicide charge and two years for the failure to stop charge (to be served consecutively) dropped a charge of tampering with evidence, also a third-degree felony, in exchange for the plea.

Donofrio handed down the sentence in the filled courtroom regularly used by Judge Maureen Sweeney, who on Thursday handed down a 20- to 24-year sentence to Kyashia Madison, 29, of Youngstown, who also pleaded guilty to a drunken driving crash that led to a death.

During Stehura’s sentencing, Adams’ wife, Anna Hanson — who moved to the country in 2015 from her native Sweden for Adams — said the sentence is simply not good enough.

“As for reaching a plea deal with the defendant, I have no objection because I do not want to go through the emotional stress of a trial, but I do want to make it clear that I’m not satisfied with the plea deal, such as it is,” she said. “Six years is too little for what happened.”

Hanson said she thinks it is unfair that she gets no choice in what happened to her and Adams or in what happens to her now, while Stehura gets a choice in what happens to him.

“I now have to face my life, in a foreign country, alone and scared, without the half of my heart that Linda took with her to her grave,” she said. “I’ve lost my beloved Linda, the main source of income for our household and the one person I trusted with my life.”

Hanson described for the court how the couple took precautions, wearing reflective vests and carrying flashlights, and spoke of the moment immediately after she heard a thud — Hanson had glanced away because the dog pulled on the leash — only to find Adams, who had just been standing beside her, was missing.

“I called out her name, but the street was so silent, so eerily silent,” she said.

Neighbors called out to Hanson and she found Adams lying in a nearby yard, barely alive. She said she saw Stehura’s truck come to a brief stop and then speed away.

“I could not believe it; whoever was driving left me to fend for myself, ignoring what had just happened,” she said.

Stehura’s defense attorney outlined what he had presented in a presentencing memorandum to the court, noting Stehura’s reputation in the community as a businessman, a supporter of youth sports and generous soul, who was not known to be an abuser of alcohol or drugs.

Stehura briefly addressed the court, and expressed remorse and accountability for his actions.

“I made a terrible decision that has led to the loss of a life,” Stehura said. “Every day, I am haunted by the knowledge of what I have done.”

Stehura said he has been in counseling and has chosen to live a completely sober life from now on.

Donofrio said he was moved by Stehura’s remorse and accountability and by the multiple letters of support written to the court on his behalf, but he has to pay for his actions.

“I have no doubt that you are extremely remorseful for your actions on the night of March 11, 2024,” Donofrio said, adding that “good people sometimes make terrible mistakes, and this is the worst kind of mistake.”

But Donofrio said he could not overlook the lack of responsibility Stehura showed by drinking so much and driving, or his actions in the immediate aftermath of the crash.

“The decent thing to do would have been to stop and check on the victim,” he said. “And the thing that is even more troubling is your attempt to conceal your vehicle.”

Following his release, Stehura will be on probation for up to two years.