Ada man receives 4-year prison sentence for fatal crash in Pontotoc County

MUSKOGEE, Okla. (KXII) - An Ada man was sentenced to four years in prison for a crash that killed a woman and hospitalized another back in 2017.

According to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, Lloyd Ray Hatley, 68, was sentenced to 48 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter in Indian Country.

According to the DA’s office, on April 29, 2022, a federal jury found Hatley guilty of involuntary manslaughter at trial. During the trial, the United States presented evidence that on February 22, 2017, Hatley was driving on State Highway One in Pontotoc County when he rear-ended another vehicle.

The investigation revealed that Hatley failed to brake until less than a second before impact, according to the press release. The collision killed a passenger in the other vehicle, and severely wounded the driver.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma prosecuted this case because the defendant is a member of a federally recognized Indian tribe and the crime occurred in Pontotoc County, within the boundaries of the Chickasaw Nation Reservation and the Eastern District of Oklahoma.