A 45-year-old San Fernando man was sentenced to six years in state prison after pleading no contest to driving intoxicated and causing a fatal crash in Newhall that killed his good friend.
Judge David W. Stuart on Wednesday handed out the mid-range sentence to Sean Alexander O’Donnell for his role in the death of Sean Brown, a 56-year-old San Fernando Valley man.
O’Donnell’s plea deal dismissed several related allegations involving the death of Brown, according to the minute order for Department D in the San Fernando Courthouse. O’Donnell was given credit for 60 days served, ordered to pay approximately $3,600 to the victim’s next of kin and then taken into custody.
O’Donnell was driving on Railroad Avenue at a high rate of speed when the car collided with an electrical pole at the intersection, Deputy Robert Jensen, former spokesman for the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station, said shortly after the March 2025 crash. Jensen said the car’s pace resulted in it traveling down the street for a significant distance after striking the pole, before coming to a stop at 6th Street.
The next of kin was the victim’s sister, Michelle Joyce, who said she considered O’Donnell a “part of our family,” who broke bread and acted as a friend, according to the transcripts from Wednesday’s sentencing hearing.
“I know you didn’t intend to kill my brother, but you did, and he’s all I had,” she said during her victim impact statement. She added there’s not a night that hasn’t gone by where she hasn’t missed him. “He was the only one left besides my sister, who is very ill.”
Joyce also said she had recently lost everything in the Altadena fires, and Brown had been her rock who had gotten her through that.
“You got a light sentence,” she said. “I got a life sentence.”
A cousin of Brown’s also read a letter from herself, as well as four on behalf of her children who love and miss Brown. One from her 11-year-old son calls Brown “uncle,” and says the loss “left a hole in my heart.”
O’Donnell addressed the family and friends of his victim in court before he was taken into custody:
“I’m so very sorry,” he said in the court transcript.
“You know I loved him and he loved me. I wish — I wish I hadn’t had that drink. I wish I didn’t get behind the wheel. I have to live the rest of my life with this, too,” he added.
“I don’t know what else I can do. I don’t know what else I can do,” he repeated. “But I know I’m — from the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry.”
The prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Shareen Nizami, then relayed a request from Joyce to hug O’Donnell, which Stuart granted, because he wasn’t in custody yet, per the court record.
Before passing sentence, Stuart described the incident as “a tragedy for two families here today,” he said in the transcript. “That’s the tragedy of drinking and driving.”
