The DUI penalties in Tampa Bay are different from one side of the bay to the next and that was illustrated once again today with a five-year DUI jail sentence for a deadly crash. Justin Jones pled guilty to DUI manslaughter, DUI with property damage and three counts of DUI with serious bodily injury. He was sentenced to five years in prison and 10 years probation according to his plea agreement.
Jones was at a Tampa Bay Buccaneers football game with his groomsmen. It was just over a week until his wedding. The Bucs won, the Tampa Rays were on the verge of clinching a World Series berth and the friends were listening to the baseball game as they left Raymond James Stadium.
Jones then proceeded to run a red light, slam into a truck killing his college roommate and injuring everyone else in his Ford SUV. He swore that he did not think he was impaired at the time of the fatal DUI crash but he blood-alcohol level came back above the legal limit at 0.13. Jones said he just made a mistake amid the confusion of all the traffic exiting the football stadium.
The sentence Jones received was part of a plea agreement but it will be interesting to compare what his DUI penalty was with the one that will be handed-down in the Josh Hunter DUI manslaughter case in Sarasota. Hunter was found guilty by a jury of DUI manslaughter but the situations were fairly similar as a crash cost each man the life of a friend who was riding in the car with them. Hunter’s DUI sentence is expected to be at least 10 years, obviously double what Jones agreed to.
