Matthew Cordle of Ohio, "whose dramatic online video confession to killing a man in a drunken-driving crash went viral" over the weekend, was indicted Monday on a charge of aggravated vehicular homicide, The Columbus Dispatch reports.
"Cordle, 22, was indicted by a Franklin [Ohio] County grand jury for causing the death of Vincent Canzani, 61, of Gahanna, in the wrong-way crash on I-670 near 3rd Street on June 22," the Dispatch adds.
Posted Sept. 3 on YouTube, Cordle's confession has now been viewed more than 1.2 million times. In it, Cordle says he will plead guilty "when I get charged ... and take full responsibility for everything I've done to Vincent and his family."
He ends by telling viewers, "I'm begging you, please don't drink and drive."
The Dispatch says that "aggravated vehicular homicide is a second-degree felony carrying two to eight and one-half years in prison. Cordle is expected to surrender and be booked at the Franklin County Jail this afternoon, authorities said."
As Huffington Post notes, Cordle's video has prompted a debate about whether he's a hero — for so publicly confessing — or just a villain. The daughter of the man killed in the crash believes Cordle is mostly trying to get a lighter sentence. He was already in legal jeopardy before his online confession: According to the Dispatch, "prosecutor Ron O'Brien said today that Cordle's blood-alcohol content was measured at 0.19 percent following the crash, more than twice the 0.08 level at which a motorist is presumed drunk in Ohio. "
The professionally produced video was done with the help of the Ohio-based , "a social movement dedicated to bettering humanity through the power of a promise."
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