Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Man charged with DUI manslaughter on trial
He’s accused of killing three people by driving drunk and crashing into a pond.
On the day of the crash, Deshawn Prince emerged from the water and looked at a bystander who saw him drive his yellow 1997 Audi through a fence and into the pond at the Inverrary Country Club golf course in Lauderhill.
“My family’s in the car,” Prince said, according to witness Chad Jones. Then, according to Jones, as if to answer a question no one asked, Prince tried to explain his driving. “He cut me off,” Prince allegedly said, even though it wasn’t clear to whom he was referring to.
Jurors have been listened intently this week to testimony from Jones and other witnesses for his trial. Prince is charged with three counts of DUI manslaughter and related charges in the deaths of three occupants of the vehicle — Shaquille Barrow, 22, his brother Tyrese Legrand, 14, of Lauderhill, and Nathaniel Morgan, 25, of Pompano Beach. None were related to Prince, but all were with him earlier on Jan. 10, 2016, at the Strikers bowling alley in Sunrise. While there, Prince bought a pitcher of beer and, according to his later statement to police, drank two glasses. His blood alcohol level was recorded after the crash at 0.14%, which is above Florida’s 0.08% limit.
After the bowling was done, Prince took the wheel to drive the others home.
But at the T-shaped intersection of Northwest 44th Street and Inverrary Boulevard, something went wrong. Prince told police the same thing he told Jones, that someone had cut him off and he swerved to get out of the way. He said he missed that person’s car. Witnesses said he hit the fence, then the trees, then the pond.
But Jones and other witnesses said no one cut Prince off. His decision to hit the gas pedal stunned Jones and two other witnesses who testified Tuesday.
“I saw the car come flying by me, right through a red light,” said witness Alex Soldin.
The trial, in front of Broward Circuit Judge John J. Murphy, is scheduled to last through this week and possibly into next. Until Tuesday morning, Prince, 28, had represented himself, but just as opening statements were set to begin, he asked the judge to appoint the Broward Public Defender’s Office to represent him.