Mistakes do happen. Terrible mistakes. They happen in Florida and all across the country. Often times, those mistakes involve alcohol. There are many people who wind up facing DUI charges who chalk it all up to making one terrible mistake. When that one-time lapse in judgment leads to death, however, the law can still mean serious consequences for a person's future.

That's true even if the alleged DUI manslaughter offender is a young man with a seemingly promising future. One 20-year-old Florida man and his family and friends have learned that in a very difficult way. The community college student who caused a fatal drunk driving crash was sentenced to 21 years in prison for his role in the Sep. 30 incident.

According to reports, the defendant didn't have a driver's license when he drove drunk and tried evading police. In that attempt, he crashed into a car and killed two people inside. He ultimately agreed to a plea deal and pleaded guilty to two counts of DUI manslaughter. Part of that plea deal was limiting his potential maximum sentence of 75 years in prison to 21.

The defendant, who will turn 21 next week, had family and friends testify before the court in hopes that their positive insights about him would lessen the court's sentencing. His criminal defense attorney even tried to persuade the court to treat the defendant as a youth offender in order to combat a harsh prison sentence.

But the judge was only convinced so far. She did, in fact, also hear testimony from the two victims' families before making her sentencing decision. They stressed that no matter how long the defendant was put in jail, they would never get to see their loved ones again. Ultimately, the judge did agree to the plea deal and lessening the maximum sentence to 21 years. She stressed how many people responsible for drunk driving accidents are generally "good people," but that isn't a reason to pardon their behaviors that led to the most serious of consequences.

Even though 21 years is still a long time, it is much shorter than 75 years behind bars. For an outcome like that and to find other avenues to mitigate the seriousness of a DUI-related charge, it is crucial to have an aggressive criminal defense attorney on one's side.

Source

St. Petersburg Times: "Young driver in St. Pete Beach DUI-manslaughter case sentenced to 21 years," Curtis Krueger, Dec. 10, 2011