Appellate Court Orders New Sentencing In DUI Manslaughter Case Due To Judge’s Improper Comments

Daytona Beach, FL (March 27, 2020)  – Florida’s 5th DCA issued an opinion ordering resentencing before a different judge.

At the sentencing hearing, my client apologized to the victims’ families, accepted responsibility for her actions, and was remorseful. The judge, however, denied the motion for downward departure.

The judge said that he did not fault my client for pleading not guilty, for arguing the motion to suppress or for taking her case to trial. But the judge also said this: “Those are all things that you are entitled to, but it sure seems inconsistent with coming in here and telling me that you take full responsibility for all of this.”

“Again, I don’t fault you for exercising your constitutional rights,” the judge said. “But it’s inconsistent with throwing your hands up and bellying up to the bar and saying, ‘This is my bad.’ And this has been going on for three years. And now you’re taking full responsibility when you’re looking at a lowest permissible sentence, without a downward departure, of almost 15 years in prison.”

On appeal, we argued that the judge “impermissibly equated her exercise of her constitutional rights as a lack of remorse.” The appellate judges agreed.

“By doing so, the trial court used [my client’s] constitutionally protected actions against her in sentencing. This was not proper consideration.”

Appellate court orders resentencing