The hammer fell on Billy Lane today, as the talented custom builder was sentenced by a Viera, Florida court to six years in prison followed by three years of probation. The sentence includes the loss of his driver’s license for life. Lane was in court for a vehicular homicide case stemming from an incident on September 4, 2006, which left Gerald Morelock dead. Despite impassioned pleas from family and a repentive speech from Lane, Circuit Judge Robert Burger passed down the six-year sentence.

It’s a case where there are no winners. There’s no way to fill the loss of the Morelock family. Lane has been working hard to make amends through charitable causes and has been using his status in the motorcycle industry as a positive so its sucks too that he can’t continue in that vein. But Lane talked about accountability, and the justice system held him true to his words.

I’ve met Lane on numerous occasions. Nice guy. Talented, but modest. But last time I saw him in Daytona at the Biker Fusion party (a fundraiser for Soldier’s Angels, where Lane donated a 1976 H-D Shovelhead to a two-tour Vietnam vet) he carried a sadness in his eyes. You can tell that the whole thing's eating him up. Maybe time served can bring closure. Maybe the Morelocks can find solace in today’s sentence. Like I said, nobody wins.