Final court session lasted for several emotional hours for both the families and ended with the Judge’s announcement for Cameroon’s 24 years in prison. The Judge exclaimed that he was remorseful it took him 3 years to take this decision, it should have taken earlier.
UNITED KINGDOM – On May 23rd 2018, in Bayshore Boulevard, Florida, a woman named Jessica and her 21 month old daughter Lilia were killed in a car crash. The Mustang was racing with a Nissan Ultima. Both the cars were been driven by young boys and are going over 100 mphs. The Mustang boy was Cameroon Herrin while the other one was John Barrineau. The Mustang boy hit the family and killed them. Lately got a life sentence jail of 24 years.
Besides Cameroon, his elder brother Tristan was also present in the car on passenger seat. The Mustang crashed into Jessica when she was crossing the road. Meanwhile she was pushing her daughter’s staller. Both cars clearly exceeded the speed limit and resulted in irreversible damage to the families of both deceased.
Just after Mustang hit the mother and her young daughter, they were taken to the hospital. While all three of them present in the Mustang and Nissan were immediately arrested. Death of Jessica and her daughter was surely not accidental and definitely caused by over speeding resulted in car crash. Sudden death of Jessica and Lilia was so tragic that a case was registered against all three racers.
People involved in the crash were bonded out of just a few days after the crash. However, the case has been going on since 2018 and multiple hearings have been done. Both boys, Cameroon and John were pleaded to be guilty last year. John was sentenced to 6 years jail for being a part of the deadly race . The announcement of Cameroon’s sentence was still left and it was announced on April,9th 2021 in hours of intense court session.
The families testimonials
It was surely an emotional court hearing and was attended by Cameroon’s and Jessica’s families and friends.
During first session, Cameroon’s family came up with a request to reduce the sentence. Request was made since Cameroon was 18-year-old at that time. And he was not aware of the consequences of what he was doing. Cameroon’s mother Cheryl came up and said about the incident, “It plays over and over again in his head, it will never go away”.
Apart from the family and friends of Cameroon, a doctor that has been doing sessions with Cameroon, Doctor Scott said, “How could he do such a thing? he is such a bright kid.” He answered his own statement saying, “This is because the stop and think part of the brain, the frontal lobe, where we stop and think about our actions is not fully developed at 18”.
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However, when the friends and family of Jessica and her daughter Lilia were called to speak, they wanted Cameroon to get a long sentence. Jessica’s mom came up with teary eyes and said, “I don’t want to sound like I don’t feel for the Herrin family, because I do, but their perspective to what they have lost cannot compare to the lives of two sweet souls”.
Late Jessica’s husband came up and said, “This was a crash and not an accident”. David, Jessica’s husband gave a testimony that lasted for 45 minutes during the testimony he called out Cameroon multiple times and spoke directly to him. During his testimony David said to Cameroon, “You have created everlasting pain and depths of sorrow”.
In his testimony David also said that whenever he goes into her daughter’s room, he cannot get the thought of the monster that killed her out of his head. In the end of this testimony David begged the judge to give Cameroon maximum time in prison.
Final Report and Hearing
A detailed report on the speed of the Mustang from a few days before the accident showed just about how fast the boy used to drive it. Thus showing that Cameroon was fond of driving recklessly. The time of the judge’s announcement came and all the people in the court room looked towards him.
The judge in his speech said, “There was no intent to kill in the case however there was surely an intent to drive at an egregious speed, regardless of the consequences and regardless of who that ended up harming”. Moreover the judge said that the harm that has been caused prevents him from putting this case in a minimum category.
At the end of his speech the judge announced that on ”Vehicular homicide”, Cameroon will be sentenced to 9 years in prison and an additional 15 years in prison for the same charge, making this a total of 24 years in prison.
Cameroon’s family was surely devastated by the judge’s decision of 24 years in prison. On the other hand, Jessica’s husband gave out a speech on how this case will set an example for other young boys to drive safely and will surely make other people living in the town safe from fatalities like these.
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