A fatal boating crash has resulted in the first conviction of death by impaired boating in North Carolina.
Officials with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission say Matthew Ferster of Brunswick County pled guilty to three counts of Death by Impaired Boating, also known as Sheyenne’s Law.
He was sentenced to 9 to 18 years in prison for his role in a March 2020 boat crash that resulted in the deaths of Jennifer Hayes, Megan Lynn, and Garret Smith.
Sheyenne’s Law, named for a teen killed by an impaired boater on Lake Norman in 2016, increased the penalty for impaired boating that results in a death or serious injury from a misdemeanor to a felony.