As for the comments that someone made earlier about the discrepancy between time that someone will have to serve upon conviction being different from one state to the next, here’s the deal. In Texas, the state where I had my day in court, the sentence range for DUI Manslaughter is anywhere from two to twenty years per count, and even in the case of a probated sentence the person still has to do the first six months in jail. Billy Lane got into trouble a year or two after I did, and I’ve followed his case as closely as possible. From my own research, Florida’s statue for DUI Manslaughter is very similar to Texas’. So, where the discrepancy in time comes from is whoever is doing the sentencing (in most cases the judge).

The court usually orders what’s called a pre-sentence investigation where the convicted person answers a bunch of questions regarding their past as well as meeting with a trained pre-sentence interviewer. This person asks a BUNCH of questions and then writes everything up and makes a recommendation to the judge. The judge takes the pre-sentence investigation’s findings and the recommendation under advisement and then makes his/her own decision. The judge in my case had a reputation of giving 15+ years to everyone who came through her courtroom on the same charges that Billy Lane is up against. Others are more forgiving…

“Two years ago, Billy Lane was charged with one count of DUI manslaughter in connection with a Labor Day 2006 traffic accident in which 56-year-old Sebastian Gerald Morelock died. Courts records show that prosecutors have filed an additional second vehicular homicide felony charge also punishable by up to 15 years in prison. DUI manslaughter requires proof that the defendant caused or contributed to the crash and had an unlawful blood-alcohol level. A vehicular homicide simply requires proof of reckless driving. Prosecutor Tom Brown states that the issue of admissibility of the blood evidence will not be resolved until trial so he had to go ahead with the added charge, This new charge ensures prosecutors to be able to proceed at trial, no matter the judge’s ruling on the blood evidence. Billy Lane trial is set to begin February 9th.”

So it seems the DA has filed a new charge which will be easier to prove & also get Billy Lane in jail no matter what happens with all this stuff that has gone on the last 2 years. Unless Billy’s lawyers can do some great work fast, I think we can all tell the outcome of this & Billy will be in his mid 50′s before he hear from him again.

This is so confusing to me. I knew a woman that was killed in a head on collision by a another woman that was on drugs and or alcohol. She only served three to four years in prison. She was given credit for the time she spent in jail. I really don’t understand how they can give 15 years in one state and 4 years in another. I think they should offer Billy Lane three or four years. Even though I had a friend killed I have a very difficult time seeing somebody put in jail for 15 years. I still think about the victim of Billy Lanes alleged drunk driving and how it is alleged that he had been drinking too. I can’t get over my thought that they both have some level of shared responsibility for the tragic accident if they had both been drinking and driving. Often people die because they can’t get out of a drunk drivers way. But if you are drinking and driving at the same time that a drunk driver is coming at you it would decrease your reaction time and your ability to move out of the way if you saw an accident coming.