Tamara Lynn Sytch, better known under her wrestling name “Sunny,” killed Julian Lafrancis Lasseter in a drunk driving crash, authorities said. At right, she appears in a 1997 segment. (Mugshot: Volusia County Sheriff’s Office; screenshot: WWE by way of YouTube channel Old-School-Wrestling-Clips)
A WWE Hall of Famer pleaded no contest on Wednesday to killing an elderly man during a drunken driving crash.
Tamara “Tammy” Lynn Sytch, 50, better known under her ring name “Sunny,” faces a total of more than 25 and a half years for DUI causing the death of a person and driving with a suspended or revoked license causing death. She will get time served for charges of DUI resulting in damage to person and DUI with damage to property.
Sentencing is set for Nov. 27 in Volusia County, Florida.
Authorities said she killed Julian Lafrancis Lasseter, 75, in a drunk driving crash on March 25, 2022. She drove a Mercedes into Lasseter’s Kia while he was stopped at a traffic light. This caused the elderly man to collide into another vehicle in front of him. Two witnesses claimed she was going at a high speed, authorities said. Four people in that third vehicle were treated for minor injuries at the scene, but Lasseter died instantly at the scene. Sytch, meanwhile, was hospitalized and released.
She had had a BAC of .280, more than three times the legal limit of .08, a toxicology report said.
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“Known for his generosity and enthusiasm for living life to the fullest, Fran gave many people a ‘leg up,’” Lasseter’s obituary stated. “He viewed helping people as his life’s mission. Fran was a member of Unity of Daytona Beach and a believer in Christ. One of his favorite sayings was ‘I’m on God’s plan.’”
Sytch is best known as pro-wrestling manager. She was prominent in the mid 1990s to 2000, during what may have been the industry’s most popular period, and worked with WWE, rival top dollar company WCW, and the influential wrestling and media company ECW.
She faced numerous drunk driving cases over the years, however. Sytch had been arrested for at least six previous DUIs in multiple states, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
Jim Cornette, himself an influential manager and booker who worked with Sytch from the beginning on her career at his company Smoky Mountain Wrestling, had voiced frustration after the crash that killed Lasseter with the trajectory of her life.
“So I can’t defend it,” he said in an episode of his podcast. “I don’t take any pleasure in saying it, but somebody’s got to make her accountable for herself because she’s not going to do it.”
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