A north Florida man is facing a lengthy DUI prison sentence after pleading guilty to a felony DUI charge in the death of a 16-year-old girl. John Campbell Arthur pled guilty to numerous charges in connection with a car crash that killed Alayna Bowman on June 23. According to reports Arthur had a blood alcohol level of three times the legal limit at the time he hit Bowman’s car as she was pulling into her driveway.
Arthur has entered a plea of guilty to DUI manslaughter, driving with a suspended license as a habitual traffic offender, reckless driving and violation of probation on a previous charge of carrying a concealed weapon. Arthur will be sentenced December 14 and his Florida DUI sentence could be as high as 33 years in prison.
The car crash that took the life of Bowman took place at approximately 10:30 p.m. outside the teenager’s home in Fort Walton Beach. Arthur was apparently trying to pass the girl leading to the fatal crash. The family was relieved with the guilty plea. First, it means the man that took the young girl’s life will go to prison but it will also spare her 13-year-old brother from taking the stand and reliving the horrible night as he was in the passenger seat at the time of the crash.
According to the report of NWFDailyNews.com, Arthur still has 30 days in which to change his mind, withdraw his guilty plea and take the case to trial. With blood alcohol readings of 0.278 and 0.276 it would be a difficult case to fight for any criminal defense attorney. Circuit Judge John Brown will hand down his sentence in an Okaloosa County Courtroom, which will hopefully allow Bowman’s family to begin to move on from the tragedy that took their daughter’s life.
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