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Porter rejects plea deal in hit-and-run case

By JENNIFER LIBERTO
Published May 31, 2005

TAMPA -- The Land O' Lakes woman accused of leaving the scene of a fatal hit-and-run in March 2004 recently met, talked and cried with the mother of the two children who died in that accident, state prosecutors revealed in a court hearing Tuesday morning.

Jennifer Porter, 29, a former elementary school teacher, is charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving a death in the fatal hit-and-run that killed Bryant Wilkins, 13 and his brother Durontae Caldwell, 3, and injured two of their siblings, as they all crossed 22nd Street in Tampa on March 31, 2004.

At the same court hearing, Porter's attorney Barry Cohen, of the Tampa firm of Cohen, Jayson & Foster, called a state plea deal offered last week, "unacceptable." The deal would have allowed Porter to spend three years in state prison, less than the maximum of 15 years for the second-degree felony.

The rejection of the plea deal means that the case is poised for trial, already scheduled for October 31.

Lisa Wilkins, 30, mother of Bryant and Durontae, requested that Porter sit down and talk with her. Wilkins had told attorneys she wanted to talk to Porter to get closure as well as some sort of explanation for why Porter left the scene of the crime.

Wilkins told attorneys and her adviser, the Rev. Michelle Patty, that while she didn't get the answer to her question, she was glad to have spoken with Porter.

See tomorrow's Times or sptimes.com for the full report.

[Last modified May 31, 2005, 18:57:53]