Dispute between friends ends in prison, probation

One man gets two years in prison after hitting the other, who got probation, with his truck.

By COLLEEN JENKINS, Times Staff Writer
Published October 2, 2007

TAMPA - If Chase Austin Sheppard and Dionel Munoz were 10 years younger, their spat might simply have ended with a trip to the principal's office.

He hit me first, Sheppard would have said.

He deserved it, Munoz would have retorted.

But best friends grow up. They get cars and girlfriends and tempers. And they get prison time when that mix leads one of them to run over the other one.

During their nearly dozen years of friendship, Sheppard and Munoz lived across the street from each other. On Monday, they stood in a courtroom only a few feet apart, but the gulf between them was wide.

Munoz, 22, accused Sheppard, 20, of mowing him down with a Chevrolet truck just after midnight Feb. 11.

They had been out drinking with friends, partying at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino. They headed home, Munoz said, when Sheppard started "acting ridiculously."

During the drive, heated words flew. Sheppard, at the wheel, insulted Munoz's girlfriend.

"I felt like I was disrespected," Munoz told Hillsborough Circuit Judge Debra Behnke. "So I did hit him. I think he knows he deserved that."

Two witnesses told authorities that Munoz hit Sheppard a couple times in the face. Sheppard slammed on the brakes. Munoz and the witnesses got out.

Sheppard told the judge he was scared of what Munoz might do next. As he tried to drive off, he said, Munoz jumped in front of the truck. Sheppard said he didn't realize he had hit anyone when he drove away.

But Munoz remembered the truck backing up, then accelerating. He landed facedown, felt two heavy tires crush his back. The force cracked every rib, he said. It sent him to a hospital for six days and left him with nearly $50,000 worth of medical bills.

"I almost died," Munoz said.

Munoz is serving probation for striking Sheppard in the truck.

Sheppard, who was charged three times with battery as a juvenile, pleaded guilty in August to aggravated battery causing great bodily harm with a weapon.

He left his sentence up to the judge.

Behnke called Sheppard's actions on Feb. 11 "really, really mean."

She sentenced him as a youthful offender to two years in prison, followed by two years of probation. She also permanently revoked his driver's license.

She told Sheppard he should use the time in prison to learn a different meaning of friendship.

"I guess there are many definitions of friendship," the judge said. "This one's a real unusual one."

Colleen Jenkins can be reached at cjenkins@sptimes.com or 813 226-3337.

[Last modified October 1, 2007, 22:36:29]