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Crash victim's family pleads for leniency for DUI defendant
By CHASE SQUIRES, Times Staff Writer DADE CITY -- Tears flowed freely Thursday as family members of a young man killed in a car crash told a judge how they felt about the man at the wheel accused of driving drunk. But in this case, brothers, sisters and a father told Circuit Judge Wayne Cobb they did not want prison for the driver, who they said is like family. The driver, Matthew Guy Lunsford, 25, faced a minimum of 10 years in prison under state sentencing guidelines if convicted. He is charged with DUI manslaughter. But after hearing testimony from the family of the victim, 24-year-old James John "Jack" McCaffery of Surrey, England, Cobb said he will go below state guidelines. Authorities say Lunsford was driving east on Clinton Avenue in a 1993 Mazda shortly after 1 a.m. Nov. 12 when he lost control on a curve and spun onto the shoulder before slamming into a tree. Lunsford suffered a broken wrist and pelvis. The passenger side took the brunt of the impact, and McCaffery, in the passenger seat, died at the scene. Both men had blood alcohol levels over 0.20 percent, a prosecutor said. A blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent is the threshold at which Florida law presumes someone is unable to drive safely. McCaffery's family said Lunsford was like a brother or son. "Blame and guilt are not issues that I believe are at stake here," McCaffery's older brother, Nick, testified. "If Matt gets incarcerated for this accident, it would not bring James back to me, but it will take another brother away from me." "What Matt will be going through for the rest of his life far exceeds any punishment any person can impose," James McCaffery's sister, Jacqueline Weaver, told the judge. Friends and family lining the benches in the gallery dabbed moist eyes as McCaffery's family fought back tears, asking the judge to spare Lunsford. McCaffery's father, Peter, traveled from Spain to appear. He said he is a lifelong teacher in the British juvenile delinquency program and a former magistrate. "Matt Lunsford is not the sort of young man who would survive prison," Peter McCaffery said, fighting to control his emotions. "We hate what Matt did, but we don't hate Matt. I love him like another son. As Catholics, we believe James is in heaven. If you send Matt Lunsford to prison, you'll be sending him to hell." Lunsford's attorney, Larry Hersch, said Lunsford might agree to plead guilty if a deal is struck that will keep him out of prison. Lunsford's next hearing is scheduled for Wednesday. Prosecutor Phil Van Allen told Cobb the law calls for a minimum of 10 years and that is what the state would ask for. The guidelines escalate rapidly when someone dies in a drunken driving crash. "It's sad, it's terrible ... but the fact of the matter is he is dead," Van Allen said. "It's the law. It is harsh, perhaps too harsh, but it is the law of this state." "I don't believe it would benefit anyone, including the state, for Matthew Lunsford to be incarcerated," Hersch said. "This is a horrible situation."
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From today's Pasco Times Letters |
