A Joshua Tree man was sentenced to two years in prison for a fatality that occurred in 2021 on Highway 243.

On Jan. 31, Nathan Daniel McConnell, 40, pleaded guilty to gross vehicle manslaughter and reckless driving causing serious injury on May 9, 2021.

McConnell was driving northbound on Highway 243, north of Miller Ranch Road at a speed between 73 and 79 mph. Charles James Shacklock, 31, of New Springfield, Ohio, was driving southbound on Highway 243.

Due to McConnell’s speed, he was unable to negotiate a left-hand curve and applied the brake while entering the curve. He lost control, rotated clockwise toward the east shoulder ascending a slope. McConnell rotated the wheel the other direction to correct, coming down the slope, traveling through two lanes of traffic counterclockwise into the Outlander.

The force of impact caused Shacklock’s vehicle to travel off the road through a wooden sign into a fence coming to a rest, blocking the southbound lane and the shoulder.

He was pronounced deceased at the scene.