A Hillsborough Circuit Judge sentenced Kevin Smith of Oldsmar to a year and a day in state prison this week after Smith pleaded guilty to the drunk driving death of a Tampa woman in 2008. Smith was charged with DUI manslaughter related to the death of Vickie Colonna.

Colonna’s family had originally asked that Smith receive the maximum 15-year sentence. Prosecutors told the judge this week, however, that the state and Colonna’s family accepted the one-year sentence which was the result of a plea negotiation.

After Smith completes his prison sentence, he will be placed on 10 years of probation. His driver’s license was permanently revoked and he must perform 50 hours of community service and pay up to $12,200 restitution to cover Colonna’s medical and funeral expenses.

Colonna was Smith’s passenger back in April 2008 when Smith was driving on Hillsborough Avenue. Just east of Double Branch Road, Smith came upon a Dodge truck owned by Oscar J. Gonzalez of Tampa. Smith maintained that the truck was stopped in the middle of the traffic lane and that Gonzales was standing outside of the truck on the street. Defense experts would have testified that the truck’s taillights were not on. Prosecutors argued that Gonzalez’s truck was moving quite slowly in traffic.

Smith was unable to swerve around Gonzalez’s truck and clipped it with his vehicle’s passenger-side front bumper. Smith’s truck then overturned and Colonna was thrown from the vehicle. She was not wearing a seatbelt and later died.

Smith’s blood-alcohol level was 0.224. Florida law presumes a driver is impaired with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08.

Had the case gone to trial, he would have faced a maximum of 15 years in prison.

DUI

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 31st, 2010 at 1:35 am and is filed under Florida Criminal Law News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.