Man in triple wrong-way death seeks shorter term
He’s serving almost 33 years in DUI manslaughter case
Former North Lauderdale resident Kenneth Jenkins says he’s serving the longest prison sentence in any Florida DUI manslaughter case — nearly 33 years for a 2008 Delray Beach wrongway triple death— and nowhe’s blaming his former lawyers.
In 2011, Jenkins, now 33, pleaded guilty to driving drunk and causing the deadly head-on crash on Interstate 95. Itwas then up to a Palm Beach County judge to decide on a punishment.
An apologetic Jenkins had hoped for a sizable break from the state guidelines that called for a minimum of 32 years,101⁄ months in prison; the maximum possiblewas a life term. But Circuit Judge Richard Oftedal imposed the minimum, noting howJenkins, while still out on bail, had just been caught on video playing beer pong at a bar.
On Tuesday, Jenkins asked Circuit Judge Charles Burton to throw out his prison sentence because of alleged mistakes by defense attorneys Jack Goldberger and Michael E. Dutko that happened before Jenkins pleaded guilty.
Jenkins’newattorneys, David Oscar Markus and LaurenDoyle, argued that the Jenkins case dragged on unnecessarily for years because his previous attorneys had tried to pursue a defense that the victims’ car, not Jenkins’, was heading the wrongway.
Within months of the March 2008 wreck, it became clear that Jenkins was the wrong-way driver and bore responsibility, Markus said. Jenkins’ blood-alcohol levelwas .182, more than twice the legal limit to drive.
Jenkins testified Tuesday that he wanted to accept responsibility for the crash, but continued to trust his lawyers.
“His lawyers let this go on and on and on,” Markus told Burton, explaining that it “rightfully incensed” the victims’ families and the delays ultimately led to the beer pong episode.
“We would have never gotten to beer pong,” the attorney said, asking Burton to “fix an unjust result.”
But Assistant State Attorney Linda Harrison argued for the judge to keep Jenkins’ sentence in place because “it would be a travesty and a true injustice” to undo the punishment considering the fact that he got the minimum sentence in a case where three people died.
According to Florida Highway Patrol and court records, Jenkins was driving a Pontiac south in the northbound lanes of I-95 near Linton Boulevard on March 16, 2008 and collided head-onwith aMercedes.
In the Mercedes were Boris Rapoport, 54, and Angelina Pagliuca, 58, of Hampstead, Quebec, who were heading from Boca Raton to Palm Beach International Airport with Rapoport’s mother, Renee, 78, and her friend, Robert Rutman, 83, of Boca Raton. All but Pagliuca died.
A private investigator hired by a cousin of Rutman shot the video of Jenkins’ partying weeks before his sentencing. Jenkins previously said it was a one-time lapse because he was afraid of going to prison.
Attorneys Goldberger and Dutko both testified Tuesday they were surprised by the lengthy sentence for Jenkins, who has no memory of the crash. But Dutko said the beer pong video “was a game changer” in the case.
Markus said his research found no other defendant in Florida had ever been sentenced to so long in prison for DUI manslaughter convictions.
Burton said he would consider the arguments by the attorneys and issue a ruling as soon as possible. But he also noted that Jenkins’ sentence appeared to come as a result of the beer pong incident.
“His own actions are what did him in,” Burton said. “That was the nail in the coffin, I think.”
mjfreeman@tribpub.com, 561-243-6642 or Twitter@MarcJFreeman