By Sophia Voravong

After being hit by an impaired driver last July, David Osadchuk slowly relearned how to walk and talk. But once-simple tasks, such as getting out of bed, still are difficult today.

"I certainly don't think this has made my life easier," Osadchuk said in a video recording made about 10 days ago. "Things we take for granted, I had to learn to do that again."

The video, showing parts of a typical day in Osadchuk's new life, was played Wednesday during a sentencing hearing for Juventino Jose Castillo, the man accused of rear-ending Osadchuk on Indiana 38 East.

Judge Thomas Busch of Tippecanoe Superior Court 2 sentenced Castillo to eight years in prison and two years on community corrections for operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a Class C felony, and for being a habitual substance offender.

A blood test taken after the crash showed Castillo had a blood-alcohol content of 0.18 percent, more than double Indiana's legal limit of 0.08 percent to drive. He also had traces of marijuana in his system.

"I don't recall leaving the bar or becoming extremely intoxicated," Castillo testified Wednesday. " ... I know I made a horrible mistake."

He admitted to consuming numerous alcoholic beverages at a West Lafayette bar and smoking marijuana in the hours before running a red light on July 6, 2007, and rear-ending Osadchuk's car -- throwing it into a ditch.

Tippecanoe County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Kristen McVey said crash reconstructionists determined that Castillo had been driving at least 100 mph.

Osadchuk, who was just leaving work at Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc., suffered a serious brain injury and had been hospitalized in a coma for several days. He later was treated at a rehabilitation facility in Terre Haute.

South Bend attorney Charlie Rice is representing Osadchuk and his wife, Amy, in a separate civil lawsuit against Castillo and the Neon Cactus bar, where Castillo had been drinking that morning.

He attended Wednesday's hearing and called the Osadchuks afterward.

"They're sad for his family, but they are pleased with the sentencing," Rice said. "The big question is how far he (David) can go in his recovery. We're coming to a point where we're up against a wall."

Busch also ordered that Castillo's driver's license be suspended for two years after his  release.