Man gets 55 years for DUI deaths
Jesus Bernal, who was in the country illegally, had 2 prior DUI convictions
ANDY MEINEN
Thursday November 1st, 2007
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DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — Jesus Bernal hung his head in court Thursday morning.

He will spend the next 55 years in prison.

Walton County Circuit Court Judge Kevin Wells sentenced the Mexican native after he pleaded guilty last week to three counts of DUI manslaughter and two counts of DUI with serious bodily injury.

James Rook, 43, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and his wife, Margie, 41, died in a June 2006 crash when Bernal’s pickup truck collided head-on with their car on U.S. Highway 331 in Walton County.

Arnulof Morales, a 28-year-old passenger in Bernal’s truck, also died in the crash. Bernal was also charged with severely injuring Magan Doherty, 14, a passenger in the Rooks’ car, and Jorge Rivera, 41, a passenger in Bernal’s pickup.

Bernal’s attorney, Michael Weinstock, recommended the 29-year-old serve 38ﾽ years in prison.

But State Attorney William Eddins said the state was seeking the maximum 55 years because of Bernal’s prior history and that he admitted to having been drinking before the crash.

Eddins told the court that Bernal, who was in the country illegally, had two prior DUI convictions in North Carolina in 2002 that were just six days apart. He spent a year in jail in North Carolina on those charges.

Bernal told investigators that on the day of the crash he drove a friend to a local Mexican restaurant “to watch a football game,â€