Last man convicted before COVID-19 lockdown sentenced to 12 years

A Broward judge sentenced a convicted drunken driver to more than 12 years in prison Friday, finally closing the book on the last criminal trial to reach a jury before last year’s pandemic lockdowns.

Allan Jallim, 31, was found guilty on March 20, 2020 of 11 criminal counts, the most serious being DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide in the July 2016 death of Hunter Wroblewski.

At the time the jury returned its verdict, the Broward courthouse was all but vacated. Concerns about the spread of COVID forced statewide lockdowns, closing most businesses, restaurants and government offices, including courts.

The jury that decided Jallim’s case was the only one in the courthouse. Masks were not yet mandatory.

Jallim has been in custody ever since, waiting 17 months for a sentencing hearing that often takes place within a month or two of the verdict in similar cases.

He faced a maximum of 30 years in prison on those counts, but was sentenced to two concurrent terms of 12 years and three months each. In handing down the sentence, Broward Circuit Judge Tim Bailey rejected a defense request for a “downward departure,” which would have permitted a less severe sentence.

Bailey acknowledged that the defendant had no prior history that warranted excessive punishment, but he said the severity of the crime was enough to justify the 12-year sentence.

According to the evidence presented at trial, Jallim was driving his black Chevy Camaro at 107 mph one second before he struck scooter rider Wroblewski on East Dania Beach Boulevard, where the speed limit was 40 mph.