John McGee has spent the past four years trying to get over the loss of his wife, killed in a wreck caused by a drunken driver.

“I lost a friend. I lost a loved one,” McGee said. “It’s a life-changing experience.”

The Feb. 4, 2001, car crash also changed 34-year-old Brandon Gentry’s life.

“Every day I think about it,” Gentry told a Douglas County District Court judge Tuesday morning. “It’s the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about when I go to sleep.”

Gentry has spent nearly three and a half years in a prison cell after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter while driving under the influence of alcohol, as well as two counts of aggravated battery.

Gentry’s blood alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit when he ran a red light at Sixth Street and Monterey Way and crashed into the car that John McGee, his wife, Shyra McGee, and another passenger were riding in.

“I’ve had lots of sleepless nights, wondering about what I could have done differently,” John McGee told the court.

He has tried to get on with his life, moving to Kansas City, Kan., and taking a job as a firefighter, but a Kansas Supreme Court ruling brought him back to a Douglas County courtroom Tuesday to relive the fatal crash.

Gentry, who had one previous DUI at the time of the wreck, was sentenced to nearly six years in prison in November 2001. But because of a Kansas Supreme Court ruling in January 2004 that affected the sentences of repeat DUI offenders, Gentry had to be resentenced Tuesday.

The court’s decision in State v. Manbeck focused on a flaw in a 1996 state sentencing law. Under that law, someone with a previous DUI convicted of involuntary manslaughter while driving under the influence of alcohol “and” drugs had his previous DUI convictions converted from misdemeanors to felonies for determination of the defendant’s criminal history, which is a factor in sentencing.

Legislators since the court ruling have amended the law, changing the word “and” to “or.”

Gentry was sentenced to 71 months in prison, after his previous DUI conviction was converted to a felony based on the stricken law.

Tuesday, prosecutors noted that Gentry was solely under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash — not alcohol “and” drugs, changing his criminal history and in the end knocking more than a year and a half off his sentence.

6News video: Drunken driver resentenced to shorter term

But prosecutors still pushed for Gentry to complete his 71 months.

“A reduction of 20 months is not just or equitable,” Assistant Dist. Atty. Trent Krug said.

Gentry’s father described the changes he’s seen in his son during the more than 80 times he’s visited him in prison.

“He knows he made a mistake, and he wants to correct what he can,” Kenneth Gentry told the judge. “He wants to be a positive contributor to society when he gets out.”

“I’d like to say I’m sorry,” Brandon Gentry told McGee.

The judge resentenced Gentry to 50 months in prison. With credit for good behavior, he could be free as early as May.

“If the law of the land states that he’s done his time, then he’s done his time,” McGee said.