The Central Ohio man whose YouTube confession to killing another man while driving drunk went viral has been released from prison.Matthew Cordle left the Pickaway Correctional Institution Wednesday evening, about six months before the original release date he received for the June 2013 crash on Interstate 670 that killed Vincent Canzani.
Cordle posted his online confession three months after the crash, and it garnered more than 2 million views by the time he was sentenced.
In his Wednesday appearance in Franklin County Court of Common Peas, Cordle said he’s rehabilitated himself in prison.
“Even since I’ve been incarcerated, I’ve tried to make good on the promise that I made that I’d walk out of prison a better man. And I believe I’ve done that,” Cordle told the judge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmpK_EshSL4&t=114s
His victim’s daughter, Angela Canzani, joined prosecutors in urging the judge to make him serve his full sentence.
“Letting him out six months early sends him the message that he can continue to do what he wants and it doesn’t matter who it affects,” Canzani said.
Judge Jenifer French eventually sided with Cordle.
“You went in (to prison) and did so many things to help you to be a better person,” French said, referring to Cordle’s good behavior behind bars and his work toward a Bachelor’s degree in psychology.
“We’re very happy that he can start his life outside of prison and jail and make good on all of the things that he said,” Cordle’s sister Sarah Alasya told reporters after the court hearing.
After the hearing, Franklin County Prosecutor Rob O’Brien said, “Any of the good things he can do for himself, the community or in memory of the victim’s family can be done March 7, 2020,” referring to Cordle’s original release date.
