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Week in reviewBy Times staff writer © St. Petersburg Times, published January 14, 2001 DRUNKEN DRIVER GETS LIFE IN PRISON FOR USF CRASH: A Hillsborough Circuit Judge sentenced Mitchell Houston James, 41, to life in prison for the traffic deaths of three University of South Florida students in November 1999. Relatives of the students said James, whose blood-alcohol content that night was nearly three times the level at which the state presumes impairment, deserved the life sentence to keep from driving drunk again. James had been convicted of DUI five years ago, and he had been convicted of driving with his license suspended eight times. James was traveling 76 mph when he ran a red light at Bruce B. Downs Boulevard and Fletcher Avenue. His white Cadillac slammed into a Pontiac Firebird carrying four USF students returning from a late-night run to McDonald's. Passenger David Sanders survived the crash. Killed were Majid Tahri, Jaclyn Ayala and Petrina Dawson. "If I could take that night back, I would take it back," James told the judge as he asked for mercy. "I would rather be on the other side than go through this living hell." PRINCIPALS NAMED: The Hillsborough County School Board appointed eight new principals Tuesday, five of them for new schools and three to fill the offices of retiring principals. The new principals are Tom Dessy at Chiles Elementary in New Tampa; Jeffrey Eakins at Cypress Creek Elementary in Ruskin; Lisa Yost at McKitrick Elementary in Lutz; Joann Redden at Oak Grove Elementary in west Tampa; Ellen Jennings at Ruskin Elementary; Susan Marohnic at Symmes Elementary in south Brandon; Sandy Bunkin at Alonso High School in Town 'N Country and Robert Heilmann at Riverview High School. CARROLLWOOD CHILD FREED IN HONDURAS: A 4-year-old Carrollwood girl was released three days after being kidnapped in Honduras, police said Monday. Tiffany Richards was found Sunday in a park in El Progreso, 80 miles north of Tegucigalpa, the capital, police spokesman Donaldo Burquet said. Burquet said no ransom was paid for Tiffany, youngest daughter of Honduran Elsa Guzman and American Douglas Richards. The family, who also own a home the Lake Magdalene area, went to Honduras on Nov. 23 to stay at their home there. Days earlier, three men with AK-47 rifles stormed a ranch in Rio Lindo, 100 miles north of the capital, and took the girl. A mechanic at the ranch has been arrested, Burquet said. He said officials believe the girl was released because the kidnappers became nervous when U.S. officials began investigating the case.
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