NOEL POVLSEN PHOTO

Marie Fite

A 34-year-old man who was drunk when he struck and killed a 91-year-old woman on Capitol Hill last year was sentenced Friday to 10 1/2 years in prison.

Shawn Shipp, a convicted sex offender with a lengthy criminal record, pleaded guilty last month to vehicular homicide in connection with the death of Marie Fite on May 3.

After backing over the elderly woman, Shipp tried to pull her out from underneath his truck. Shipp walked away from his truck as sirens approached, according to charging papers. He returned a short time later and was arrested.

Shipp had a blood-alcohol level of 0.16, twice the legal limit, after the crash, according to police. Shipp denied being drunk but said that he had taken a 500-milligram Vicodin pill several hours earlier, according to charges.

Shipp also has convictions for first-degree child rape, twice failing to register as a sex offender, assault, motor-vehicle theft, drug possession, vehicle prowling, drunken driving, driving with a suspended license and speeding 28 miles over the posted limit, according to court records.

Fite lived in the same Capitol Hill apartment building for more than 30 years. Even as she grew older she went on daily walks and bragged about her independence, according to her friends and family.