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Man Gets 20 Years For DUI Death Of Cantonment Man
June 15, 2011
A Pace man will spend 20 years in prison for the DUI death of a Cantonment motorcyclist last year.
Ronnie Lamar Henley was sentenced Tuesday by Santa Rosa County Circuit Judge David Rimmer for DUI manslaughter, leaving the scene of a crash and marijuana possession. He was found guilty in a jury trial in May.
On April 5, 2010, Henley was driving on Highway 90 in Pace with a blood alcohol level of .24 — three times the legal limit — when he abruptly turned in front of a motorcycle driven by Matthew Christopher Harrison, 29, of Cantonment.
Henley struck and killed Harrison before fleeing the scene. Two witnesses, including an off-duty Santa Rosa County deputy, followed Henley until he was apprehended by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office.
Comments
12 Responses to “Man Gets 20 Years For DUI Death Of Cantonment Man”
This man was a great teacher to me would love to hear he is out and ok. I pray for both families always.
This man is my uncle. Unfortunately, he let his disease of alcoholism rule his life. Trust me, he’s living with the guilt of this. 20 years may not seem like a lot for the loss of life. He has all this time to let this sink in and to think about his life and the life he claimed. I do sincerely believe that he is sorry and would have rather his life be lost, than for someone else’s life to be lost. There is nothing he could say or do that would change anything at this point. I just pray that God is convicting his heart and that he is a changed man. He will always be my family and I will love him unconditionally, just as God loves us.
I’m glad to see that Judge Rimmer shows NO tolerence for this type of behavior.
dont they have a breathalizer contraption that is somehow linked to a cars ignition?…maybe that should be a standard (mandatory) device incorporated onto every new vehicle…im sure it would save many lives.
I hope he gets no early parole. It’s a shame that taxpayers have to pay huge sums to support this guy in prison. It would be good if there was some way to have him pay his own way and pay the victim’s family some sort of restitution, although no amount could be enough. We can’t create an institution of slavery in our penal system and he certainly shouldn’t qualify for work release…so….???
Hello Jim, I can understand your position on this. I can also see that the sin tax is indeed, terribly high, good luck.
Putting more tax on something will not stop the problem. Until people in this country figure out it is a privilege to drive not a right this will continue to happen. So, in the mean time you just have to enforce the law and start taking th licenses away first time for let’s say a period of a couple of years and so on. I know a lot of are going to say well they have to get to work and so on. But think for a moment they chose to put themselves in that position so it is self inflected not my problem and no I would not feel sorry for them. Again it was a choice and a very bad choice. Just as this man made now he will be in prision for a long time and chances are he is probably a decent human being but just made a bad choice. So now he pays.
Bu the way you should check with you city county and state to see just how much sin tax is already on a bottle booze. Most of what you pay is taxes the cost of the product is very little.
Amen David.
I agree with both of you, yet feel so bad that someone who didn’t mean to
kill someone but now will pay such a deservedly so, yet horrible price.
I would love to see the tax on liquor go to some exorbitant price so
some of these people just could not afford to get drunk at a bar and
then drive in this condition. Someone would be alive if not for this man’s
drunken day off. I just don’t understand why adults can not learn that nothing good ever comes from excessive partying, be it liquor or drugs.
Go find something constructive to do. PLEASE!
REGARDING:
“maybe it is time to tax alcohol through the roof,”
Nah. That would just give criminals an improved source of income, back to moonshining and bootlegging.
Better to be strict on all who use drugs (which includes alcohol) and drive or otherwise endanger the public. Leave alone those who don’t endanger others.
David for reasoned responses
such as that of this judge
DUI manslaughter, I hear it so often, its starting to sound like a broken record, maybe it is time to tax alcohol through the roof, I doubt that the beings that control the liquor industry would allow it though.
That’s awesome he got 20 … Should be more ! But 20 at his age will work being as he may not see freedom living . Sorry I’m sure that sounds harsh but he deserves it .
I wish ppl would learn to stay off the road drinking ! It is really easy to get a ride with a sober person !!