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Inmate's sentencing request is denied
By Times staff writer © St. Petersburg Times, published September 1, 2000 DADE CITY -- A former Zephyrhills resident serving time for a 1997 truck crash that killed his girlfriend asked a judge to reduce the 15-year prison term he agreed to in a plea deal. Circuit Judge Wayne Cobb on Thursday rejected the request. Two and a half years into his 15-year sentence, Philip "Phil" Mackey, 40, is complaining he didn't understand the details of his plea agreement stemming from a drag race that killed his girlfriend. His public defender, Robert Focht, argued that the sentence went above normal guidelines. Mackey pleaded guilty in January 1998 to third-degree murder after the April 1997 death of his girlfriend Betty Ann Cabibi. Investigators said Mackey and Cabibi were drag racing in separate vehicles along State Road 54 in Land O'Lakes when Mackey's vehicle clipped the back end of Cabibi's sport utility vehicle, spinning it out of control. Cabibi was ejected from the SUV as it flipped, and then was struck by an oncoming car. She died at the scene. Authorities said Mackey drove away. He was charged with second-degree murder, but agreed to a lesser charge in exchange for a 15-year prison term. Mackey, a Canadian citizen, had Canadian Consul Janis Lawson intervene on his behalf. In a letter to the court, Lawson wrote that Mackey's mother is ill and asked that Mackey be placed on probation and allowed to serve it in Canada. Cobb rejected Mackey's request for a lesser sentence without addressing the Canadian government's request.
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