http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009902060341Lane team may enter plea soon
Trial scheduled to start Monday
BY KEYONNA SUMMERS • FLORIDA TODAY • FEBRUARY 6, 2009
Plea negotiations between the state and Billy Lane's lawyers could lead to a resolution in the motorcycle designer's DUI manslaughter case as early as next week, his attorney said.
The announcement of the plea comes days before Lane was scheduled to go to trial Monday.
"I can't talk about the details right now because we have a couple minor details that are up in the air," lawyer Greg Eisenmenger told FLORIDA TODAY on Thursday.
He said he hopes to receive confirmation on those details from prosecutors by today and anticipates Lane would enter the plea next week.
Lane, 38, was charged two years ago with one count of DUI manslaughter in connection with a Labor Day 2006 traffic accident in which 56-year-old Sebastian Inlet park ranger Gerald Morelock died.
Police said Lane's blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit when he crossed a double yellow line to pass several cars near Melbourne Beach, striking Morelock's motorcycle head-on.
In light of ongoing legal wrangling over the permissibility of blood evidence at trial, prosecutors in late December added an alternative charge of vehicular homicide, which requires the state to prove Lane was driving recklessly but does not include the drug or alcohol element needed to prove DUI manslaughter.
Both charges are second-degree felonies, punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Eisenmenger said the amended charge factored into Lane's decision to consider a plea agreement, and that any other factors would "become more clear" in court.
"We're in agreement on all the major points," Eisenmenger said of his discussions with the state. "We're 99 percent there but we're not 100 percent there. We're close enough that the court felt it was appropriate to take it off the trial docket and we're close enough that we're confident we'll get to a plea."
Prosecutor Tom Brown said 95 percent or more of his office's cases are resolved through pleas, and his office treats this case like any other.
Among the factors to be considered are state sentencing guidelines, the facts of the case and input from the victim's family, which Brown said is always considered during plea discussions and before an offer is made.
"We've had plea discussions on this case from the beginning," Brown said. "We've never not been amenable to reaching a resolution. . . and when you get close to trial, discussions become much more serious."
Byron Morelock, the victim's brother, said he is not opposed to a plea deal.
"Revenge is nothing. I've got to take myself out of the picture," he said. "I just know my brother would want something positive out of this thing. Gerry was a sweet guy and he never wanted to hurt anybody and even when someone would hurt him . . . he'd say 'Don't worry about it.'"
Morelock's family, Lane and DaimlerChrysler, which provided Lane with the truck he was driving for promotional purposes, reached an undisclosed out-of-court settlement on a wrongful death suit in July 2007.
A civil suit filed against Lane and DaimlerChrysler in May by Lane's passenger, Erin Derrick, seeks unspecified damages for permanent injuries she said have left her neither able to work nor to pay off mounting medical bills. That case is still pending.
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Topic: Billy Lane plea deal in the works (Read 4909 times)