UPDATE: Man Convicted of Cobb Hit-And-Run Sentenced to Prison

UPDATE (3:37 p.m.): The Cobb County District Attorney’s Office has released additional information about the trial and conviction of the man who ran over and killed a bicyclist in Marietta in 2013.

According to prosecutors, Damon Thomas Latuch was out drinking with friends in the hours before the fatal crash on April 10, 2013, and was told on two separate occasions that he was too drunk to drive. Latuch refused to let someone drive for him and took the wheel.

After he struck and killed Joseph “Deaf Joe” Gathambiri near the CCT station on South Marietta Parkway at approximately 5 a.m., he immediately left the area and later told coworkers that he had struck a deer.

Following his conviction on one count of first degree vehicular homicide on Thursday morning, Cobb Superior Court Judge Lark Ingram sentenced Latuch to serve 15 years, with 5 in custody and the remaining 10 on probation.

ORIGINAL STORY (3:26 p.m.): The Marietta man who was suspected in the hit-and-run death of a cyclist on South Marietta Parkway in April, 2013 has been convicted and sentenced for his crime, The Cobb County District Attorney’s Office says.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Damon Thomas Latuch was convicted of first degree vehicular homicide on Thursday and was sentenced to serve five years in jail and to pay $9,00 in restitution to the family of Joseph “Deaf Joe” Gathambiri, who was killed in the incident.

At approximately 5 a.m. on April 10, 2013, Gathambiri, an aspiring rapper, was run over from behind by Latuch’s 1994 black Toyota truck while cycling on South Marietta Parkway. The road was shut down for more than two hours as police conducted their investigation.

Through evidence collected at the scene and a tip from a citizen, police narrowed their search down to Latuch, and arrested him at his Marietta home on the same day. He was originally charged with hit and run, DUI, and first degree vehicular homicide.

Gathambiri, a native of Kenya, worked as a cook at a Burger King in the area and was popular with customers and coworkers. As “Deaf Joe” he was working towards becoming a rapper who used sign language instead of spoken words.