DUI Killer DJ faces 30-year sentence in prison for double fatal booze cruise
Ervens Prudent was well over the limit 3 hours after this fatal crash in 2013. Photo Miami CBS
Fatal crash scene of DUI DJ in Miami found guilty 100215. photo Miami Fire Department
From WSVN
MIAMI (10/02/2015) — A South Florida musician who killed two people in a crash two years ago was found guilty by a jury on Friday.
In June of 2013, Ervens Prudent was caught on camera as he sped under the influence along Eighth Street when he rear-ended another
DUI DJ Killer Ervens Prudent found guilty of two deaths. He faces 30 years in prison for taking his party on the road and ending their lives.
vehicle at a red light at Douglas Road. Maria Martinez and her boyfriend, Marlon Gutierrez, were inside the vehicle he struck. They died on scene.
On Friday, the 28-year-old was found guilty on four counts of DUI and vehicular manslaughter. “After two years and four months, we’re finally getting the justice we’re searching for,” said Yuri Blen, Martinez’s daughter.
Prudent’s attorney argued that the driver fell asleep behind the wheel, but surveillance video of the accident showed him dodging and speeding along the street. Police also said Prudent was drinking prior to the accident, and three hours after, his blood alcohol level was .115, far beyond the .08 limit.
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From Miami Herald:
Despite blood test results, Prudent swore he wasn’t drunk that night. Instead, the DJ and musician insisted he fell asleep behind the wheel after a long day that included a funeral, a restaurant shift, errands and dancing at a friend’s wedding before driving off for home.
“I was doing the speed limit and then,” Prudent told jurors. “Next thing I remember is waking up at the hospital.”
But a witness noted Prudent was honking and changing lanes as he barreled down Southwest Eighth Street. The jury also saw video surveillance footage of the violent impact when Prudent’s Toyota Corolla plowed at a high rate of speed into Maria Martinez, 44, and Marlon Gutierrez, 34, who were stopped at a red light.
And three hours after the June 2013 crash, a test showed Prudent’s blood-alcohol-content level was still .115 — far over the legal limit of .08.
“You’re coming fast, beeping your horn repeatedly. Kind of difficult to do that if you’re asleep,” Miami-Dade prosecutor Lara Penn said during cross-examination. “You managed to keep yourself driving, never drifting, never veering off the road, while you’ve fallen asleep?”
She asked: “Cars don’t just move on their own, correct? You have to hit the gas pedal, right?”
“Yes,” Prudent replied softly….MORE
