The Marines made Scott S. a combat officer and war hero. Did they also help make him an inmate of a jail psychiatric ward, awaiting trial for drunken-driving manslaughter?

The Marine Corps takes the blame for standing by and letting it all happen.

The 38-year-old captain had survived four combat tours since 2003. One of several close-range explosions had blown a hole in his right arm and caused him to almost bleed to death. He wore three Purple Hearts for wounds and a Bronze Star for valor. A Marine Corps summary of his heroic acts under fire is 19 pages long.

He had acted strangely for months. He was in pain from his arm wound and plagued by flashbacks and memory loss. He ducked company, drank alone, often walked in his sleep. He went out to buy sunglasses in San Diego and found himself in Mexico.

Still, the Marines declared him neurologically sound, fit for full duty and ordered him to report in April 2010 to MacDill Air Force Base for a classified office assignment. Soon after landing in Tampa, Scott drove drunk and killed someone. He could face years in prison.

Scott’s DUI manslaughter trial is scheduled to start Sept. 12.
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Tampa Bay area man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for causing a DUI crash that killed three people on Christmas Day 2007.

As part of a deal with prosecutors, 37-year-old David B. pleaded guilty Tuesday to DUI manslaughter and other charges.

Authorities say David had alcohol, Xanax and evidence of cocaine in his system when he crashed his pickup into the back of a Chevrolet Tahoe at a high speed in Pasco County, north of Tampa. Killed were Denise and Gerard B., who were visiting from Connecticut, and Denise’s mother, Linda W. All were passengers in the Tahoe.

David could have faced life in prison if convicted at trial. He’ll serve 10 years of probation after he gets out of prison.

In a way, the defendant was lucky. The judge could have easily sentenced him to 25 years in prison.

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The man accused of causing a crash last week that killed a 5-year-old girl has been charged with DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide, authorities said.

The Florida Highway Patrol reported that John Doe, 52, of Tampa sideswiped two vehicles stopped for traffic Friday night while trying to squeeze between two lanes on U.S. 301.

He then struck a van in the intersection with Bloomingdale Avenue, injuring four children including 5-year-old Lilly Mills of Brandon. The little girl later died at Tampa General Hospital.
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Judges usually don’t like devious lawyers.

But a judge told the attorney for a Tampa dentist charged in drunken driving death of two pedestrians to be creative when he and his experts examine the car the dentist was driving if they want to deceive prosecutors.

Circuit Judge Kimberly K. Fernandez wasn’t endorsing any evidentiary hanky-panky. She was trying to resolve a spat between prosecutors and the attorney for Matt M.

Matt’s attorney asked the judge to let him and his accident reconstruction experts examine the Cadillac the suspect was driving without the other side looking over their shoulders.

His attorney claimed it would all be protected work product.

Assistant State Attorney Barbara Coleman argued that she and the lead detective in the case need to oversee the inspection to preserve the integrity of the evidence. She said under state discovery laws she would be entitled to it eventually.

Fernandez said the detective could be there, but not Coleman.

She also had some advice for Matt’s attorney.

“Be creative,” she said. “There are ways to avoid what you’re arguing to me.”
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Marine Capt. Scott S’s manslaughter defense this fall will be “horrible, an eye-opener,” his attorney promised Wednesday, an expose of the plight of brain-damaged veterans of a decade of war.

But until then, a judge decided that the 37-year-old Marine who came home from Iraq and Afghanistan with three Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star is a threat to the public and belongs in jail.

The ramrod-straight, buzz-cut officer was deemed too dangerous to roam MacDill Air Force Base, the home of Central Command. Scott has remained on the job there since being charged with driving head-on into a car while drunk in April 2010, killing the other driver.

Scott was getting mental health treatment while at MacDill, but prosecutors learned that he drank enough beer to fall off a bicycle on the base last Friday. Out on $25,500 bond, he had been ordered to avoid alcohol.

Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Daniel Sleet scolded Scott’s commanding officer for lax supervision.

Scott’s attorney said the Marine’s brain injuries made him incapable of controlling his actions. The judge asked what Scott was doing at “one of the nation’s most important military bases” with access to weapons.
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Authorities say a Tampa Bay-area DUI traffic stop turned into a fatal accident after a handcuffed suspect escaped from a sheriff’s deputy and sped off, killing a motorcyclist during the chase.

Pasco County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Kevin Doll said 21-year-old Jane Doe managed to get away in her truck Tuesday morning. Doll said she hit and killed 66-year-old motorcyclist Henry M. before deputies could catch up with her again.

Doll said Deputy Ashley Grady reached in the truck window and tried to keep Doe from driving away following the traffic stop in Hudson, north of Tampa. Grady suffered a head injury and scrapes when she fell off, but is expected to be OK.

Doe was jailed with multiple charges. It was not clear if she had a lawyer yet.

RIP Henry – Tampa DUI Lawyers

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A 33-year-old man was placed on two years of house arrest after pleading no contest today to killing a pedestrian while driving drunk on New Year’s Day 2010.

John Doe pleaded no contest to a felony charge of driving under the influence-manslaughter and a misdemeanor charge of DUI with property damage.

Doe, an assistant golf professional at Saddlebrook Resort, admitted to hitting Vestin M. as the 24-year-old man was crossing Bullard Parkway near North Glen Arven Avenue in Temple Terrace about 2 a.m.

Prosecutor Barbara Coleman said Doe’s blood-alcohol level was 0.17 percent three hours after the wreck. Florida law presumes impairment at 0.08 percent.

Hillsborough Circuit Judge Kimberly K. Fernandez accepted a plea deal that Doe’s attorney worked out with Coleman.

Vestin’s wife, Jessica Bankston, signed off on the deal but said her mother-in-law did not.
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The trial of a U.S. Marine captain accused of killing a man while driving drunk going the wrong way on Interstate 275 a year ago could turn on his mental state.

The attorney for John Doe, 37, of Tampa, said he expects to use some form on the insanity defense.

“It is going to be a capacity defense,” his attorney told Circuit Judge Daniel H. Sleet today.

Doe, a decorated Marine with three Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star, is charged with DUI-manslaughter in the death of 48-year-old Pedro R.

Investigators say Doe was driving his Chevrolet Impala the wrong way on I-275 nears Bearss Avenue when he collided head-on with Pedro R.’s Chevrolet Malibu.

Today’s hearing came on the anniversary of Pedro R’s death.
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John Doe was ready to plead guilty today to driving drunk and killing a woman last summer.

The New Port Richey man was willing to take his punishment – as long as it wasn’t too stiff.

His defense attorney wanted Hillsborough Circuit Judge Ashley Moody to agree not to sentence Doe to more than 10 1/2 years in prison, the bottom of state sentencing guidelines based on Doe’s criminal history.

Assistant State Attorney Barbara Coleman objected.

Moody said she wasn’t willing to limit her options.

“I’m not going to tell you where I will cap the sentence except at the maximum,” she said, setting the case for trial Aug. 1.
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