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Teenager in fatal crash pleads no contest
By CARY DAVIS, Times Staff Writer NEW PORT RICHEY -- Raimond Michael Moran pleaded no contest Wednesday to triple manslaughter charges, avoiding what was certain to be an emotional trial but risking the possibility of a lengthy prison sentence. In pleading no contest, Moran, 19, neither admitted nor denied guilt on charges that say he passed out at the wheel after inhaling from an aerosol can, causing a chain-reaction crash that left three people dead. The plea was an open one, meaning it came with no promises from the judge. When Moran is sentenced June 27, he faces the possibility of nearly three decades in prison. Yet Moran's public defenders said they hope to persuade Circuit Judge William Webb to sentence the soft-spoken teen as a youthful offender, which would cap any prison term at six years. "We feel we have legal grounds for a (downward) departure sentence," said assistant public defender Candy Vandercar. "We want to show all aspects of Michael Moran." Prosecutor Mike Halkitis said he would push for "as much time as we can get under the sentencing guidelines." The bottom of the guidelines is 27 years. The maximum sentence is 45 years. The no-contest plea allows Moran to appeal Webb's refusal to dismiss the charges Wednesday on double jeopardy grounds. Moran's attorneys argued that Webb improperly declared a mistrial in March after a jury was sworn in to hear the case. Double jeopardy, which protects defendants against being tried twice for the same crime, takes effect as soon as a jury is sworn in. Webb ruled that it was necessary to declare the mistrial because Moran's attorney at the time, John Andrews, was incompetent. Moran himself agreed on the record to the mistrial. Moran's public defenders are expected to ask the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Lakeland to overturn Webb's ruling and dismiss the charges. A subdued tone hung over Wednesday's proceedings. Moran, dressed in jail blues and shackled at the wrists, had to be told to speak up as he answered the judge's questions with one "Yes, sir" after another. Moran's mother, sitting in the courtroom behind her son, held hands with relatives as tears filled her eyes. The case turned a public spotlight on "huffing," the street term for getting high by inhaling from an aerosol can. According to court documents, Moran was huffing from a can of computer keyboard cleaner as he drove his mother's Honda Prelude west on Ridge Road on Aug. 19, 2000. As he approached a red light at U.S. 19, he took two hits from the can in rapid succession and passed out, prosecutors say. Another teen, who was sitting in the passenger seat, grabbed the wheel but could not stop the car, court records show. The Prelude blew through the red light at 50 mph, prosecutors say, and slammed into a Buick sedan. Three passengers in the Buick were killed: Feliciano Castillo, 34; Megan Basinger, 24, who was three months' pregnant; and her boyfriend, Douglas Allen, 30. Moran was 17 at the time of the crash, legally a minor but eligible, because of the serious charges, to be punished as an adult. Allen's mother said Wednesday that Moran deserves to be sentenced as a man, not a boy. "If this one gets away with it," said Janice Allen, "look at the all the other kids who will be out there huffing and puffing and killing people." -- Cary Davis covers courts in west Pasco County. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6236 or toll free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6236. His e-mail address is cbdavis@sptimes.com.
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From today's Pasco Times Letters |
