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USF trio memorialized before trialBy KATHRYN WEXLER © St. Petersburg Times, published November 30, 2000 TAMPA -- The three University of South Florida students were part of a small clique that used the picnic table beneath the great oak as their haunt, a place where they did homework, traded cigarettes and dished gossip. A year ago, they were killed by a driver police said was drunk. And on Wednesday, a young magnolia tree and plaque were dedicated to their memory, yards from their shady gathering place. "This was their spot," said Dave Dawson, whose daughter Leanna was one of three killed in a car crash Nov. 29, 1999. "This was where they all hung out." Officials blame the accident on a man they said was drunk and high when he blew through a red light and plowed into their car. Mitchell Houston James is charged with three counts of DUI manslaughter and one count of DUI with serious bodily injury. He had a history of driving drunk. The accident occurred as the students were returning from a late-night run to McDonald's. Leanna Dawson, 19, was driving three friends in her Pontiac Firebird along Fletcher Avenue when James' Cadillac ripped into her car. They had all buckled up, according to reports, but Dawson and Majid Tahri, 20, died instantly. Jaclyn Ayala, 18, lingered several hours at Tampa General Hospital. A fourth student survived. James, then 39, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.23, nearly three times the level at which the law presumes a driver to be impaired, according to police. He suffered a broken leg and facial injuries, deputies said. His trial is scheduled to begin Monday. "I want justice to be done, trite as that sounds," said Jeani Schmuecker, Leanna's mother. The families stood shoulder to shoulder during the brief memorial. One person read aloud from a children's book about death. Jennifer Lawrence, Ayala's former roommate, dropped some white carnations on the white plaque. It listed the three names and read: Taken from us too soon. Ayala's mother, Melba O'Brien, a New York City police detective, said she worked a double shift this Thanksgiving. "I felt I had no reason to give thanks," she said. After the memorial, the victims' families and friends filed into a Hillsborough courtroom for a pretrial hearing on the case. Circuit Judge Cynthia Holloway declined to grant a continuance requested by James' attorney, who said he also plans to ask for the trial to be moved because of intense publicity. - Times staff writer Sue Carlton contributed to this report.
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