A Hernando County judge denied Barbara Diffendal’s motion to reduce her 13-year prison sentence for DUI manslaughter earlier this week. Diffendal accepted a plea agreement this summer but, shortly after arriving at the state prison in Ocala, she reconsidered and asked the court to lower her sentence.

In a two-page plea to the judge, Diffendal tried to explain what happened back on January 5, 2008 when she lost control of her car on U.S. 19, crossing into oncoming traffic and killing Jeanine Costello Bethoney.

Diffendal fled the scene of the accident on foot with her 4-year-old daughter, who was uninjured. Hernando County sheriff’s deputies found them later.

She was charged on Sept. 24, 2008 with DUI manslaughter and leaving the scene without rendering aid. According to arrest reports, toxicology results showed she had been under the influence of alcohol. She faced a maximum of 30 years and a minimum of about 11 years in prison.

Now, Diffendal says she had a sandwich, chips and two beers earlier that afternoon. She saw flashing lights and lost control of her car. She ran away with her 4-year-old daughter because she was scared and because she had soiled her pants. According to Diffendal’s letter, she was not under the influence of alcohol.

In the letter, Diffendal argued that her blood alcohol level was 0.05, which falls under the level where state law presumes impairment and that she agreed to a plea bargain because she didn’t want to cause more pain for the victim’s family.

“IT WAS AN ACCIDENT one that I am so very sorry for,” Diffendal wrote. “Anything less then (sic) the time I have now would be a blessing.”

Unfortunately for Diffendal, her denial of any influence of alcohol comes a little late. She already pleaded guilty to the crime. It is extremely difficult to get a court’s approval to withdraw a guilty plea or reduce a sentence. Second-guessing your decision to plead guilty after you’ve seen the inside of a prison is never going to be accepted as a valid reason to set aside the plea, conviction and sentence.

There are instances in which a guilty plea can be withdrawn and the conviction set aside. A defendant should explore every detail of his or her case however with an experienced criminal defense attorney before attempting to much such a request to the court in order to maximize the chances of a positive outcome.

DUI

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 at 8:44 pm 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.