LARGO — Diego Cavalieri admitted he is the one to blame for driving so recklessly around a curve on Indian Rocks Road in 2011 that he killed two of his friends and seriously injured two other people.
Appearing in court Friday to hear his sentence, he said he is in a "living hell" because he knows "I was the one who was behind that wheel and took the lives of two great men."
His attorney John Trevena asked for a 10-year sentence. His victims' family members asked for life in prison.
Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Thane Covert said no sentence would prove satisfactory, but ordered Cavalieri to spend 30 years in prison followed by 10 years of probation.
Cavalieri had pleaded guilty to two counts of vehicular homicide and two counts of reckless driving with serious bodily injury, with no plea bargain in place.
Authorities say he was driving his Ford Fusion south on Indian Rocks Road on Christmas night 2011 when he lost control at a sharp right turn, overcorrected and zoomed directly in front of a northbound Buick driven by David Maynard.
The Buick hit the Fusion's passenger side, causing serious injuries to all four people in the car. Thomas Eugene Williams, 25, in the Fusion's front passenger seat, was killed on impact. Backseat passengers Sean Edward Wilson and Timothy Talbot were airlifted to Bayfront Medical Center, where Wilson, 22, died.
Blood tests showed Cavalieri had been drinking that night, but was below the level at which people are presumed impaired. He also had smoked marijuana, was driving too fast on a road with a treacherous turn and had passed at least one car in a no-passing zone, prosecutors said.
They also pointed out that, shortly after the crash, he left with his family to their home country of Uruguay. He was later extradited.
Trevena said his client was a good husband and family man, and an excellent student about to receive an associate's degree from St. Petersburg College, with plans to transfer to the University of South Florida to study engineering.
The sentence issued by Covert followed an emotional hearing with testimony from mothers and siblings who miss their loved ones, as well as supporters of Cavalieri.
"I ask all the time, 'God, why am I still here, you know?' " said Timothy Talbot, the only passenger in Cavalieri's car who survived. Talbot was overcome with emotion on Friday and had to cut his statement short.
"I can't do this no more," he said, and began walking out of the courtroom. "I'm sick and tired of pain, man. It's because of you."
Williams' mother, Maria Fisher, said that because of losing her son, she feels as though she is in prison herself. That's why she asked for Cavalieri to get a life sentence. "I'll die in prison and so should he." She said afterward she was "extremely disappointed" in the sentence.
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Explore all your optionsWilson's mother, Lori Mercer, also asked for a tough sentence. "Life is life," she said. "You took life. You owe life."
Before the hearing ended, Covert had advice for the victims' families as well as for Cavalieri.
"You'll have to find some peace with this somehow," he told them. "Otherwise, it will destroy you."