Norma McDuffie, 68, was sentenced this week to four years in prison as a result of her conviction for DUI manslaughter in Lake County Court. She was also ordered to pay $14,636.52 restitution to Villager June Griffin for lost income when she also was struck by the car driven by McDuffie. McDuffie will have to serve six years probation and will have her driver’s license revoked for life.
McDuffie had been charged with DUI-manslaughter eight months after police said she struck and killed 60-year-old Jo Ann Taylor, who had just been knocked to the ground by another car near Leesburg Region Medical Center, according to reports.
Moments before the fatal crash, Taylor was crossing Pine Street, near Knott Street, when she was first struck by a 2006 Honda sedan driven by a 77-year-old woman, police said.
Several people were helping her when McDuffie, who was westbound on Pine Street in a 2000 Saturn Coupe, then hit Taylor, according to police.
Another pedestrian, Griffin, was also injured. Griffin was working as a nurse at the hospital
McDuffie’s “normal faculties were impaired” with a blood-alcohol content of .08 percent or higher, records show, thereby meeting or exceeding the level at which Florida law presumes a motorist to be impaired.
McDuffie also was charged with another felony, DUI-impairment causing personal injury, and possession of 20 grams or less of marijuana, a misdemeanor.
McDuffie was given credit for five days served in the Lake County Jail.
