A drunk driver who veered off the road and decapitated a friend who had leaned his head out a window was sentenced to five years in prison.

John Kemper Hutcherson, 21, pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in the death last August of Frankie Brohm, 23, whose head was severed when the truck grazed a telephone pole guy wire.

Brohm had been hanging his head out the window when Hutcherson swerved off the road. Police do not know how fast Hutcherson was driving when he hit the nearly vertical support wire. A broken sideview mirror was the only noticeable damage to the truck.

Police said Hutcherson was unaware of the decapitation and drove more than 10 miles to his parents’ home, went inside and fell asleep with the headless body still in his truck. A neighbor discovered the body the next morning.

Officers said Hutcherson appeared remorseful after they found him sleeping inside his home Sunday morning, still covered in blood and visibly inebriated. Police don’t think foul play is involved.

Investigators said Hutcherson’s blood-alcohol level was probably more than twice the legal limit at the time of the accident.

Brohm’s family asked for leniency for Hutcherson, who was a childhood friend of the victim.