Quentin Kight could serve more than 15 years in prison under the plea agreement. He will serve at least 12 and a half years, according to Chatham County DA Jeff Nieman.
Kight admitted he was operating the boat while impaired when he struck 10-year-old Brooklyn Carroll, who was swimming in the lake.
The 10-year-old was killed in the incident.
Kight also admitted to hitting Jennifer Stehle, a Wake County Public School System employee. Stehle survived but underwent an amputation above the knee.
Emotions ran high inside the courtroom on Monday as Carroll's parents and Stehle delivered victim impact statements before Kight was sentenced.
Carroll'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," Cannon said.
Judge Allen Baddour said he took Kight's military service into account when determining the sentence. He also acknowledged that there was nothing the court could do to fix the situation.
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.
After the incident in 2025, Kight was charged with felony boating while impaired among other charges.
In October, the family of Brooklyn Carroll filed a wrongful-death lawsuit.
After filing the lawsuit, Brooklyn's parents, Kim Cannon and Matt Carroll, 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."
Stay on top of breaking news stories with the ABC11 News App