Former Reserve Soldier Sentenced in Fatal Accident

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) _ A former Army reserve soldier has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for a 2009 wreck that killed two Allen University students in Columbia. Thirty-year-old Jabari Harding pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of reckless homicide. Harding had pleaded guilty last year to three counts of felony drunken driving, but was allowed to withdraw that plea. Defense attorney James Ervin says the new plea agreement is what he called an “adequate disposition” of the wreck in downtown Columbia. Jerry Blandin and Courtney Williams were killed in the wreck. A third student suffered serious injuries. Police say Harding’s blood alcohol level was .08 percent, the legal limit in South Carolina. He was stationed at Fort Jackson at the time in the U.S. Army Drill Sergeant School.