DUI Mom Will Go To Prison For 9 Years For Killing Son

Eddie Farah
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Posted by Eddie FarahOctober 03, 2008 9:33 PM
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A 32-yer-old Jacksonville woman will be spending close to nine years in prison for driving drunk and killing her son in the crash that followed.

Last April, Angela Harper was was drunk driving at 100 mph on Interstate-295, south of Jacksonville. Harper lost control of her Saturn and hit a metal guardrail on Interstate 295 in Jacksonville.

Her 13-year-old son, Jesse Harper, was one of several teens in the back seat thrown out. He died at the scene. While Angela was wearing her seat belt, the kids in the back were not.

Law enforcement found that Angela's blood alcohol level was measured at .11, and she was speeding. She pled guilty to DUI manslaughter.

In other words she was doing everything wrong that she possibly could.

But the mother of two other teens involved in the crash, believes the sentence is too harsh.

“Something inside of me said I have to forgive her. I have to forgive her because she lost her son,” the unidentified woman said to Channel 4.

“We felt it was significant and important enough to go ahead and prosecute this case aggressively to try to let people know that we treat this just as seriously as if she had killed a complete stranger,” said Assistant State Attorney Mark Borello.

Sentencing guidelines can send her to prison for 15 years for DUI Manslaughter in the state of Florida, so nine years could be considered a break. But isn't losing your son enough of a lesson to learn that driving drunk and without seatbelts is a fatal combination? This is a tragedy all the way around.

Posted in Auto Accident, Personal Injury | Edit |

1 Comment

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lee gordon
Posted by lee gordon
October 15, 2008 1:16 AM

Leave her alone. She lost her son. That is enough punishment for life. What does the State of Florida want with her - except to gain another inmate for their jobs program. Florida is the #1 incarceration region on the entire globe. What do they want her to do, kill herself. What about her other children, now without a brother and a mother. Stop the prison profiteers from scooping everyone up and exercise some forgiveness. This poor woman will grieve the rest of her life.

Lee Gordon

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