When 17-year-old Luke Resecker crashed his Chevy Silverado into the minivan of a Georgia family celebrating the holidays in Texas, he essentially ended eight lives.
There were the six family members killed in the catastrophic head-on collision on Dec. 26, 2023. The seventh member, a doting dad who was left paralyzed, was the sole survivor in the minivan and lost everything he loved. And then there’s Resecker himself.
A jury recently sentenced Resecker, who tested positive for THC, to 65 years in prison for the crash in one of the harshest penalties ever for someone driving under the influence of marijuana. If Resecker serves the entire prison term, he’ll be in his mid-80s by the time he gets out.
The case has gained national attention and sparked debate about whether the prison time was too much for a teenager who made the worst mistake of his life or whether it’s the only just punishment for a person responsible for a crash that killed so many innocent people. It also shines a spotlight on an increasingly more common area of law: intoxication manslaughter involving marijuana, a drug that is now legal in a growing number of jurisdictions across the nation.
In exclusive interviews, USA TODAY spoke at length with Resecker’s defense attorney and the two prosecutors who tried the case, shedding light on how jurors reached the heavy sentence.
Prosecutors Connor Day and Stephanie Miller of the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office told USA TODAY that one of the most powerful moments for jurors was when they heard testimony from 43-year-old Lokesh Potabathula, the sole survivor in the minivan, who lost his two children, his wife, a cousin and his in-laws.
“He told them when he woke up in that hospital, the last thing he remembered was talking to his daughter in the back seat,” Day said. “The next thing someone told him his family is dead and he could only move his head. He just begged to die.”
One of Resecker’s attorneys, Alan Steele, told USA TODAY that though the case is heartbreaking, “the punishment doesn’t fit the allegations.”
“This accident happened because of a kid who made a bad left turn,” Steele said. “He went to make a pass on the road, we had a horrible collision and people died. And that is tragic and unfortunate and awful, and I understand the jury’s desire to see someone punished because of the fact that people are dead. But it’s still an accident. It does not rise to the level of criminal responsibility.”
Here’s what else to know about the case, including more about who Resecker is, more about the lives that were lost, and why the punishment stands out among similar cases across the country.
It was Dec. 26, 2023, and Lokesh Potabathula was celebrating the holidays with his family: 36-year-old wife Naveena, 11-year-old son Kruthik, 9-year-old daughter Nishidharaman, and his in-laws, Nageswararao and Sitamahalakshmi Ponnada.
Lokesh’s cousin, Rushil Barri, 28, drove the family in their Honda Odyssey to the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, where they saw giraffes, zebras, emus and other animals. “They had a great day,” Day said.
They were on the way back to Barri’s home in Arlington, Texas, at the same time Luke Resecker and his friend were driving in the area.
At some point, Resecker left his lane on U.S. Highway 67 and crossed a double yellow line. Investigators said he was trying to pass the car in front of him, but his defense attorneys say he was making a move to veer left onto County Road 1119.
Whatever his intention, the oncoming lane of traffic wasn’t clear. Resecker’s truck, which was going about 65 mph, slammed head-on into the Lokesh family minivan, which had been traveling at 75 mph.
Everyone was killed except Lokesh, Resecker and Resecker’s friend, though the three all had life-threatening injuries. Lokesh could move only his head when he came to and now has permanent paralysis. Resecker had traumatic brain injuries, was in a coma for five days and had to have a piece of missing skull replaced. His friend also suffered a traumatic brain injury.
Inside Resecker’s truck, Texas Highway Patrol troopers found THC wax and marijuana. Prosecutors say his blood tested positive for THC (10 nanograms per milliliter of blood). In states like Colorado and Washington, the legal limit for drivers is 5 nanograms per milliliter; states such as Texas and California have no minimum for what’s considered impaired.
Steele said that the THC in Resecker’s system “is not in and of itself proof of intoxication” and that under Texas law, the standard of proof “says that he must have lost normal use of physical or mental faculties as a result of drugs, alcohol or both.”
The evidence does not show that, Steele said, adding that Resecker was driving into the setting sun and approaching a partially blind curve. Steele added: “He just didn’t see this minivan.”
Lokesh and Noveena Potabathula came to the United States from India looking for a better life about a decade ago, according to prosecutors Day and Miller. The family came from the state of Andhra Pradesh, on southern India’s east coast, according to the Hindustan Times.
Lokesh obtained a work visa and the family made a home in Atlanta. Lokesh has worked for the same IT company for 20 years and Noveena was a stay-at-home mom. Their son Kruthik excelled at math and liked building robots; 9-year-old Nishidharaman was a sweet, gregarious girl who had a lot of friends, Day and Miller said. Noveena’s parents lived with the family.
Lokesh told jurors about how close they all were. When he left work on Fridays he’d come home and they’d all spend the night together watching movies. Saturday and Sunday were also family time.
Lokesh was “super-proud of his son,” and his daughter “was the light of his world,” Day said.
“This truly was a situation where it was a good family who did nothing wrong, and that’s what’s so heartbreaking,” Day said. “They were truly in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
At the time of the crash, Resecker was just 17. He was still in high school and working a restaurant job, Steele said. Now 19, he has since finished high school online and earned his diploma.
Resecker is no stranger to tragedy. His father died by suicide when he was just 11, Steele said. He said Resecker’s father hanged himself in jail after learning his wife was filing for divorce because of domestic violence.
A few years after that, Resecker’s older brother also died by suicide, Steele said. “There’s a lot of trauma for a kid that young.”
Resecker remains close with his little sister and his mother, a surgical technologist at a local hospital. Family photos show them smiling broadly, some with Resecker’s older brother and some of them just holding a photo of him.
Resecker was charged as an adult because Texas is one of just three states that consider a person criminally responsible at age 17, according to the Interstate Commission for Juveniles.
During Resecker’s trial, jurors heard from police who testified about the cause of the crash, a toxicologist who talked about the THC in Resecker’s system, and a medical examiner who told them about the violence of the collision. They also saw bystander and police bodycam footage of the chaotic and graphic aftermath.
The most emotional days came when Lokesh testified about the impact the crash had on his life, Day and Miller said.
Jurors found Resecker guilty of second-degree manslaughter, misdemeanor driving while intoxicated, and first-degree aggravated assault with a deadly weapon causing serious bodily injury. In a move that puzzled prosecutors and defense attorneys alike, the jury found Resecker not guilty of intoxication manslaughter.
Because it was a felony in the first degree, the aggravated assault stemming from Lokesh’s injuries carried the most punitive sentencing range: five to 99 years. Without that charge, Day said, the jury could have sentenced Resecker to probation.
The jury learned of Resecker’s traumatic past but apparently dismissed it.
Miller said that no matter how tragic, “you can’t use stuff like that as a crutch.” Day said Resecker’s past is “absolutely awful” but pointed to the two children killed in the crash.
“They’re kids and they did absolutely nothing to now be dead,” he said. “They’re off the face of the Earth and they’re never going to see their dad again, and it’s a result of what Luke was doing.”
Steele said Resecker has no memory of the crash or how it happened but is filled with remorse.
“Of course he feels terrible. A lot of people died,” Steele said. “But it was an accident.”
A review of news reports about marijuana intoxication causing death shows that punishments vary wildly but that Resecker’s sentence is particularly harsh.
In New York, a man was sentenced in April to 4½ and 13½ years in prison for causing a “marijuana-fueled” crash in 2022 that killed three young women. The man was speeding up to 100 mph and weaving in and out of traffic while racing, according to the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office.
An Indiana man got seven years in prison in March for a 2020 crash that killed a 19-year-old. The man admitted he smoked marijuana before the crash, reported the Star Press, part of the USA TODAY Network.
And in Bakersfield, California, a man who was under the influence of marijuana and possibly alcohol was sentenced to just two years in prison in 2018 after he caused a head-on crash that killed a teacher and her unborn daughter, according to KBAK-TV.
Sentences ranged from 12 to 20 years for similar cases in Illinois, Florida, Arizona and Ohio.
Steele said part of the reason he believes Resecker got 65 years is that Johnson County is often known for its high prison sentences. “The first thing anybody out of Johnson County would tell you is Texas ain’t California,” he said when asked about the case in Bakersfield. “They would be proud of that disparity.”
On the more punitive side, Jack Dillon Young was sentenced to 55 years for slamming his pickup into a church bus, killing 13 people just outside San Antonio, Texas, in 2017. Prosecutors said Young smoked marijuana and took a prescription antidepressant before the crash, NPR News reported.
And in California, Davion Demetrious Murphy was sentenced to 15 years to life for causing a crash that killed three members of a family in 2018. He was accused of smoking marijuana before the crash, running a red light and driving 88 mph in a 40 mph zone, according to an appeals court.
Resecker could serve more prison time than either of them.
Resecker is appealing the sentence and has until the end of the month to file.
Day and Miller stand by the sentence.
“It’s not like our office is happy about how anything happened − it’s tragic. But do we absolutely believe it was the right thing and just?” Day said. “Yes.”
If Resecker’s 65-year sentence survives the appeals process, he won’t be eligible for parole for another 30 years − when he’ll be 49 years old.
Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter for USA TODAY. Follow her on X at @amandaleeusat. 

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