Drunk Driver Gets Nearly 5 Years in Cyclist’s Death

A woman with a history of drunk-driving arrests was sentenced Thursday to nearly five years in state prison for the death of a motorcyclist she ran down while driving drunk on the Golden State Freeway in Sun Valley last fall.

Prosecutors, however, said that while Patricia Lee Giunta, 41, received a sentence of four years and eight months, she will probably only serve a little more than two years in custody for the Oct. 4, 1989, crash that killed David Jaggs, 24, and seriously injured his wife of one month, Janine, 21.

Giunta, who was convicted last month of vehicular manslaughter, will receive credit for time served in county jail, where she has been since April. When she is transferred to state prison, her sentence will be further reduced as mandated by law depending on good behavior.