A Union Grove man must serve 10 years in prison for leaving a man in the road after running him over outside a Kenosha tavern.

Joshua J. Karasti, 21, said nothing before he was sentenced. But, he told a pre-sentence background investigator, he was “wrongfully convicted” and planned to appeal his case for the December 2008 death of Shane Parker, 31.

Jurors found Karasti guilty in September of hit-and-run causing death and drunken driving as a third offense.

Kenosha County Circuit Judge Chad Kerkman could have ordered 20 years in prison, but instead adopted a prosecutor’s recommendation of 10 years with credit for 317 days already served. The defense asked for four years in prison.

Kerkman also ordered 10 years community supervision, a $2,000 fine and revoked Karasti’s driver’s license for three years. Karasti also must forfeit his car.

Karasti’s family did not speak for him in court, but in letters to the judge they urged Kerkman to consider Karasti’s three years of service in the National Guard, his high school graduation and his young daughter.

Parker’s brother, Sean Parker, asked Kerkman to consider his loss. After growing up without their father and losing their mother to cancer in 2000, Parker was the only family he had left.

“Joshua Karasti had two previous DUIs (driving under the influence). On his third, he killed my little brother,” Sean Parker said. The death, he added, “has left me with no family for the rest of my life.”

Prosecutor Robert Zapf emphasized Karasti’s history of misdemeanors, including one for impregnating a 15-year-old girl. Zapf also stressed Karasti’s history of drunken driving, which began when he was 16 — before he even had a driver’s license — and culminated at age 20 when he ran over Parker in the 1700 block of 52nd Street.

Karasti had a blood alcohol level of 0.24 when he was arrested for the accident; the legal limit for driving is 0.08.

Defense attorney Terry Rose said he did not blame Parker for his own death, but asked Kerkman to consider Parker’s own blood alcohol level, which was 0.41.

Kerkman said he considered that fact, but reminded Karasti that Parker was not driving. And, since Karasti had chosen to drive, he had a responsibility to stop after he ran over Parker’s head.

“There is no way you could not have known you ran over that person,” Kerkman said. “... You didn’t care what happened. You didn’t care you ran someone over. You just took off.”

Police arrested Karasti after another driver followed him from the accident scene. Karasti challenged the witness’ identification of his car as the one that ran over Parker, but jurors convicted him.