Elizabeth L. Parker, Esq.
REMORSE WINS LENIENCY IN FATAL DUI The Palm Beach Post by Alan Gomez Jessica Leslie was not your average drunken driver accused of DUI manslaughter. When the then-21-year-old ran over a newspaper vendor on the median of US 441 nearly two years ago, she was the first to call for help. She then ran back to the scene and settled some confusion by insisting that she was driving the car and had been drinking. Mostly because of her willingness to help and the remorse she’s shown over the death of Pat McDonough, prosecutors offered her a lenient plea bargain Tuesday. Though she was facing a possible 15-year prison term, prosecutors agreed to a deal that limits the Boynton Beach-area resident’s prison time to 18 months, followed by 10 years of probation. Assistant State Attorney Elizabeth Parker said Leslie, who had hoped to join the US Air Force at the time of the crash and now works full time, was too young and too forthcoming with her guilt to spend a decade in prison. “She just seemed like somebody to take a chance on,” Parker said. Not only did Leslie, 22, sway Parker, but her acceptance of guilt even swayed the victim’s family. McDonough, 41, of Pompano Beach, was preparing to sell copies of the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel on the morning of November 23, 2011, when Leslie barreled over him and dragged his body about 30 feet. Officers weren’t sure who was driving the 1990 red Toyota- Leslie or another person in the car. But Leslie fessed up, was found to have a 0.15 blood-alcohol level, nearly twice the level at which a person is presumed too drunk to drive, and was jailed for two days before bonding out. Despite her son’s death, McDonough’s mother wrote a letter to prosecutors asking that Leslie not spend another day in jail. All the family wanted was a letter of apology and for Leslie to make a donation to McDonough’s favorite charity- Guide Dogs for the Blind. McDonough lost one eye when he was just over a year old. “We choose to believe that Patrick is at perfect peace in God’s loving arms and pray that Miss Leslie will remember him on every anniversary of his death so as to never put anyone through this terrible pain,” wrote McDonough’s mother Claire. As part of her probation, Leslie must complete 500 community service hours, speak to students about the dangers of driving drunk and tour a morgue. Her driver license was permanently revoked. She agreed to plead guilty to DUI manslaughter and will report to jail Dec. 1. Leslie’s attorney, Michael Salnick, said Leslie has agonized over the accident ever since and said she is, “one of those types of young ladies every parent would be proud of.”