Florida DUI Manslaughter sentence comparison
Here's a good comparison of Florida DUI sentences. Remember that Stallworth just got a measly 30 days for taking a life. The young man in the article quoted below got a year, AND he was treated as a youthful offender.
Laurel Hill man gets a year for DUI manslaughter | judkins, year, laurel - News - Northwest Florida Daily News: "A man convicted of DUI manslaughter was sentenced to a year in the county jail, prosecutors said Friday.
James Matthew Judkins, 21, of Laurel Hill, was treated as a youthful offender, assistant state attorney Greg Anchors said.
Judkins was 20 when he crashed into a utility pole in June 2008. He was driving north on State Road 85 when he veered onto the shoulder, hit the pole and came to rest in a driveway."
Location and representation can make a big difference, according John Musca, a Florida DUI and criminal defense lawyer.
This much is clear. In Florida DUI cases, money, power and fame mean something.
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I want to know why the law seems so flexible when it comes to sentencing youthful offenders. I am the mother a youth offender DUI manslaughter case. My son had no criminal history, he made a bad decision he is not a bad kid. However a Bay County Judge, Honorable DeeDee Costello sentenced my son to 12 years in prison and 18 years probation, and spouted that there was no flexibility in the law. How is it this young man gets one year? How is it that Dante Stallworth gets 30 days?? My son a solid B student, section leader of his high school marching band, no disciplanary record at school, Where is the youthful offender act in his case? He has always taken full responsibility for his actions, I am very discouraged with the Florida judicial system!
I am so poed I cannot see straight. Is the legal system corrupt in Florida or what?? Money, money, money, money! If you can't pay the victims families price like Hulk Hogan , and Dante Stallworth, or the judge don't think your pretty, like Jennifer Porter, you are SOL. In my sons dui-mans case, who had just turned 21, a dui mans case next door the prior month, the fellow got 5 years, and he hit, ran and dragged the bicyclist a half mile. The judge sentenced my son to 10 1/2 years. When brought up about the precedent of the other case, the judge smugly replied, she was not knowledgeable of what the negotiations in that case were. My son, traveling at 45 mph, lost control, hit a tree, and his best friend, the passenger died. The inconsistency of this MADD infested cesspool of a system stinks. Ain't nobody listening! What next? A borgeoise bolshevik style revolution? The rich have to quit applying their own standards.
I was hit by a drunk driver, and I belive that the laws are unfair. I'm 16 when I was backing out of a driveway I drunk coming down a little old country road spped limit 35 was doing over a hundred. He did have other dui and felonys but I don't care if he didn't. HE deserves life because not only was I almost dead all the police thought I was he almost kill a 5, 6 ,9 year old children in the neighbors yard.