Judge Gives Fugitive 15 Years
By John Coté, Sun-Sentinel.com

Spending eight years as a fugitive in Costa Rica could have proved more costly for Keith Cojocar.

Instead, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Stephen Rapp sentenced Cojocar to 15 years in prison Thursday for a 1996 crash that killed a Jupiter (Florida) Farms mother and daughter -- less than half Cojocar's original sentence after he fled the country.

The Royal Palm Beach man was convicted in absentia and sentenced to 32 1/2 years in prison after he failed to show up for the final day of his 1998 DUI manslaughter trial. That sentence was tossed after the sentencing guidelines used were later declared unconstitutional.

He faced a maximum of about 24 years under current guidelines, but prosecutors had argued for a stiffer penalty, saying Cojocar failed to show remorse or take responsibility for the 1996 crash that killed Alice Tyler and her 15-year-old daughter, Heather Durkin.

"The only thing he's remorseful for is he got caught," Assistant State Attorney Ellen Roberts said. U.S. marshals in November extradited Cojocar, 34, from Costa Rica, where he had been operating a sports gambling business.

Cojocar was driving his Ford pickup west on Indiantown Road just before midnight on Aug. 24, 1996, when he crossed the centerline and crashed head-on into a pickup truck driven by Tyler. Minutes after the crash, a Pontiac slammed into the back of Tyler's truck. Durkin died at the scene. Tyler died several days later.

The defense, noting Cojocar had no criminal record, asked for one year in the county jail, alcohol monitoring and a suspended prison sentence.

Roberts was visibly displeased outside the courtroom.

"I feel very sorry for the victims," Roberts said. "I'm not making any more comments."

One of Tyler's sons called the verdict "disgusting."

"You can kill somebody and get away with it -- you can kill two," Michael Durkin said outside the courtroom. "He just gave out a great plan: flee the country, you get back, you get a reduced sentence."

Moments later, Durkin took his mother's driver's license photo from his wallet. Her smile beamed.

"This is how I want to remember her," he said.

Durkin, who was 16 at the time of the crash, began to cry before he asked Rapp for the maximum sentence.

"You're not supposed to have the worst night of your life when you're 16," Durkin said. "You're not supposed to grow up that fast."

Mark Seiden of Miami, one of Cojocar's new lawyers, said Rapp had a "very difficult decision."

"Under the circumstances, I think he made the right decision," Seiden said.

Rapp said his task was to give the case "a fresh look."

"I recognize this particular crime is one the defendant didn't intend. He didn't mean to hurt anyone," Rapp said, but he added that he had "more sympathy and empathy" for Tyler's sons.