Man gets seven years in dragging death

FAIRBANKS - A 26-year-old North Pole man was sentenced to just over seven years in prison for the dragging death of a deaf woman.

Kevin Garner was sentenced Friday in the February 2007 death of Catherine Ahsoak.

After a night of drinking, Garner struck the 53-year-old woman while she lay in the middle of the road, dragging her several blocks to his friend's apartment.

Ahsoak's frozen body was discovered the next day by a neighbor.

She was found to have a breath-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit to operate a vehicle.

Garner's attorneys contended that Ahsoak was dead or dying of hypothermia when Garner's car struck her, but a jury convicted him of manslaughter and drunken driving.