Teen spared jail time for leaving scene of fatal crash

DADE CITY -- Ryan Austin Cornett won't go to prison for leaving the scene of a crash where a motorcyclist lay dying. But a judge ensured today that Cornett will remember the victim's suffering.

The Land O'Lakes High School honors student was not faulted in the April 2007 crash on Collier Parkway. The Florida Highway Patrol said Duke Gray, 37, was drunk and speeding when he lost control of his motorcycle and crashed.

Cornett, then 17, drove up soon after and ran over Gray and the bike. His lawyer said he pulled into a nearby parking lot, and his passenger got out and was told by paramedics already on the scene that they could leave.

The next morning, Cornett's family called the highway patrol. He was later charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving serious injury -- a third-degree felony -- and a related misdemeanor.

Gray's family disputed the patrol's description of the crash. His mother held out hope that further investigation might reveal Cornett had been drinking that night, too, and be charged with more serious crimes.

Short of that, she wanted jail time for Cornett. He faced up to five years in prison.

Instead, Circuit Judge Pat Siracusa today handed Cornett five years of probation, along with conditions meant to remind him of the victim.

Cornett was made to watch a video of Gray's memorial service, in which friends talked about what a loyal and loving person he was. Cornett will have to carry a picture of Gray with him everywhere he goes, and replace his MySpace page with a photo of Gray.

And every year on the anniversary of the accident, Cornett will report to the Pasco County jail in Land O'Lakes, and serve 48 hours as an inmate.

"I want you to think about it constantly," Siracusa told him.

-- Molly Moorhead, Times staff writer