45 Year Sentence For Black DUI Killer Of White Woman!

[Breaking_News]

Man sentenced to 45 years in prison for DUI death

http://www.news-journalonline.com/downloads/Black101608.jpg
Black

http://www.news-journalonline.com/downloads/Wnuck101608.jpg
Wnuck

DAYTONA BEACH -- Driving on a suspended license, under the influence of alcohol and cocaine, Brenton Black barreled down Riverside Drive. In one split second, the SUV he was driving collided with a pickup and killed a woman.

To avoid a life sentence, Black, 31, made a plea deal. Wednesday, a judge ordered him to spend 45 years in prison on DUI manslaughter charges stemming from the 2007 crash.

Black, his voice thick with regret, told Circuit Judge J. David Walsh that he never had any intention of killing anyone in the June 9, 2007, collision at Third Street and Riverside. He said he wished he could take back what had happened.

"I wish I could fix it," he said during the emotional hearing that lasted more than four hours. "I really wish I could fix it."

But Black -- who got behind the wheel of a friend's sport utility vehicle with a blood alcohol content nearly twice the legal definition of .08 -- had a record that came back to bite him. He'd been convicted of driving with a suspended license eight times before, prosecutor Mike Willard said.

"No one forced him to get into that car and drive after drinking a lot and using cocaine," prosecutor Bryan Feigenbaum added. "He decided to take that risk; he had no right to be driving."

Black pleaded guilty last month to charges including DUI manslaughter and having a suspended license. As part of his plea agreement, Black's punishment was capped at 50 years, and his attorneys had the right to argue for less time. With that in mind, Black's lawyer, Raymond Dvorak, spoke of Black's family and mental-health history -- his mother died when he was 12 -- to show he was the product of a troubled past.

Joan Wnuck, 42, was sitting in the passenger seat of the pickup her husband was driving on Third Street that day. Her husband of seven months, Frank Wnuck, testified that he had just finished telling her a joke, and she was laughing. Then the light turned green, and they crossed into the intersection at Riverside Drive.

Read more here

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Local/newEAST01101608.htm