A Rankin County teenager has been sentenced to 15 years behind bars for killing a nurse while drunk driving.
According to a press release from District Attorney Bubba Bramlett’s office, Colby James Tackett pled guilty to aggravate DUI resulting in death. On Oct. 7, 2022, the then-17-year-old was on Highway 471 in Brandon when he hit the vehicle of Beverly Luckett, 62, head on.
Luckett, a nurse who was also a longtime Mothers Against Drunk Driving (M.A.D.D.) advocate, did not survive. Law enforcement discovered that Tackett was intoxicated at the time of the incident. Just two weeks before, on Sept. 24, 2022, Tackett had been arrested by Flowood police for another underage drinking incident.
“This is a heart-wrenching case,” Bramlett said. “The Luckett family lost the matriarch of their family in a preventable tragedy. It was not lost on anyone that Mr. Tackett should have received a proverbial wake-up call when he was arrested for underage drinking a mere 13 days before he killed Ms. Luckett. Tackett will have to live with the consequences, and I anticipate that the emotional burden will be worse than the significant prison sentence.”
Tackett was sentenced to the maximum of 25 years in prison with the final 10 years suspended pending strict compliance with all terms of supervised probation.
