Quinten Kight was sentenced to a minimum of 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to killing 10-year-old Brooklyn Carroll and driving a boat impaired on Harris Lake last August.
Kight admitted he was operating the boat while impaired when he struck Brooklyn, who was swimming in the lake.
Kight also admitted to hitting Jennifer Stehle, a Wake County Public School System employee. Stehle survived but underwent an amputation above the knee.
More than 30 people who knew Brooklyn filled the courtroom, many wearing light blue ribbons pinned to their shirts. Both of the child's parents delivered emotional statements that brought many in attendance to tears.
Matt Carroll, Brooklyn's father, said, "My little sweet, beautiful baby girl is gone, and she was never coming back."
Brooklyn's mother, Kim Cannon, spoke about her daughter and addressed Kight directly.
"I wake up every day knowing that somehow I have to live my entire lifetime without my daughter. I have to watch the world keep moving while mine stopped. There's no sentence that you can receive that compares to that. Our sentence is for the rest of our lives," she said.
Kim Cannon added: "She deserves so much more of it. She was only 10 years old. You robbed her of everything she talked and dreamed about."
Stehle, who is the mother of one of Brooklyn's friends, also spoke in court.
"There's no way to fully explain what it means to lose a part of your body because of someone else's actions," she said. "Throughout the darkest, the most painful experiences of my life, I experienced God's love and grace (that) might have never happened before."
Judge Allen Baddour said he took Kight's military service into account when determining the sentence.
The judge struggled at times to get through the sentencing, telling Brooklyn's parents, "What happened to you can't be fixed in this courtroom."
Kight addressed the courtroom, saying, "I truly am sorry for my own decisions. To the families, and I can't even imagine. God's with you, God's with everyone here."
His former girlfriend, Annamarie Flanigan, owned the boat involved in the crash and is also facing charges, including second-degree murder.
Court documents filed after the incident said investigators found 39 empty alcoholic seltzer cans and two unopened seltzer cans on the boat. Investigators also found a child's life jacket attached to the boat's propeller.
Authorities said they found almost 90 empty alcohol containers on or outside the boat Kight was driving
After the incident in 2025, Kight was charged with felony boating while impaired, and was on pretrial release for a felony hit-and-run case at the time of the Harris Lake crash.
More than four hours after the wreck, prosecutors said a warrant was executed, and Kight's blood alcohol concentration was more than double the legal limit.
Chatham County District Attorney Jeff Nieman said the plea agreement was "an outcome that they could be at peace with."
In October, the family of Brooklyn Carroll filed a wrongful-death lawsuit. The attorney said the case is scheduled to go to trial next August in Wake County.
After filing the lawsuit, Brooklyn's parents released a statement through their attorney, David Sherlin.
"When we sent Brooklyn to Shearon Harris Reservoir on August 2 with a friend, we never imagined we'd be filing her wrongful death lawsuit just over two months later because of what happened that day," the family said. "We miss Brooklyn more than words could ever convey. But we continue to find ways to discover joy through our family and our friends. That is what Brooklyn would have wanted and how we will continue to honor her memory."
Sherlin said on Monday that, "as Labor Day approaches, they're hoping all North Carolinians who go out on boats do so safely and responsibly and sober."
A foundation has been formed in Brooklyn's memory, and her parents have traveled the country speaking about the dangers of drinking while boating.
"Last August, I not only lost my daughter. I lost my heart, my soul, my Caniac, my little Wolfpack cheerleader, my dog trainer," Carroll said Monday. "My absolute best friend in the whole world."
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