PANAMA CITY, Flo. (DDN) – A drunk motorist from Florida who killed a mother and daughter by slamming into the rear of their car at 130 mph will spend the next 40 years in prison, officials said.
According to the State Attorney’s Office for the 14th Judicial Circuit, Jacob Manuel, 33, was driving his Dodge Charger on John Pitts Road in Panama City at 45 mph when he ran the family SUV off the road and into a power pole.
Tallulah Ellis, 78, and her daughter Tammy Hughes, 57, were killed in an alcohol-fueled May 2022 crash.
A 9-year-old girl, Hughes’ daughter, was also in the automobile and seriously injured in the fatal crash that crushed the vehicle, according to officials.
This case is a real tragedy, as is the case with most DUI-Manslaughters,” Chief Assistant State Attorney Mark Graham said during Tuesday’s sentencing.
“You have the Ellis and Hughes families that lost a mother and daughter – leaving behind great-grandchildren, grandchildren, children and more. And that’s forever.
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“Then you have the defendant who is a relatively young man with no criminal record and he’s going to prison for 40 years from one bad night of making bad choices.”
Surveillance footage caught the alky entering a pub in Panama City and departing three hours later with a “glass alcoholic beverage,” according to an affidavit acquired by McClatchy News.
Manuel, who had a suspended license, drove into the back of the family’s Buick Enclave before spinning off the road, colliding with a fence, and catching fire, according to prosecutors.
According to officials, he was rescued, but the two women were pronounced dead on the scene.
The plastered driver’s blood was drawn roughly three hours after the incident and showed an alcohol level of.099%, according to the outlet.
The legal limit in all fifty states is.08%.
With his case set for trial and a jury waiting outside the courtroom, Manuel pled no pleas to two counts of DUI-manslaughter and DUI with serious bodily damage, authorities said.
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He risked life in jail if convicted at trial, but received a 40-year term in exchange for his plea.
Prosecutors claimed the victims’ families, who were in the courtroom, authorized the state’s plea arrangement before it was presented.
Reference: Drunk driver who killed mother and daughter in 130-mph Florida crash sentenced to 40 years
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