FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A man accused in a hit-and-run that killed two British tourists on Fort Lauderdale Beach was sentenced to house arrest Friday morning.
A judge sentenced Ryan LeVin to two years of house arrest in the Feb. 13, 2009, crash that killed Kenneth Watkinson and Craig Elford.
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LeVin admitted he was driving his Porsche 911 Turbo when it hit Elford and Watkinson as they walked along A1A, a hit-and-run crash that left two families in the United Kingdom without fathers and husbands.
LeVin took an open plea, changing his plea from not guilty Friday.
"I feel complete shame and compassion for the family and the victims," LeVin said in court. "And the pain these families must be going through, it's just unimaginable."
The case was covered internationally. LeVin was painted as the rogue son of an extremely wealthy Chicago family, who had no regard for life or the law. He was facing at least 35 years in prison; instead, he will serve two years of house arrest and 10 years of probation.
The victims' families agreed to the house arrest sentence because the LeVin family agreed to pay them millions of dollars. The victims' families need the money to support the victims' children, and the insurance money is almost gone, according to prosecutors.
Sources close to the case told Local 10 that since the victims' families agreed to the relatively light sentence, LeVin's family will pay them $4 million, which the two families will split.
"It was a financial and emotional hardship for these families, who are left with children who are very young who have no father," said prosecutor Stephanie Newman.
LeVin had no comment after court, but his attorney spoke to Local 10's Roger Lohse.
"If you have a defendant, no matter how difficult the case may be, is prepared, willing and able to at least place the victim back in some position, maybe not perfectly, but it some position that they were in before, then that's much more palatable for the system of justice then warehouse a defendant and literally destroy three families instead of trying to meet some kind of Solomon's choice and make sure that everybody gets a little piece of something," said LeVin's attorney, David Bogenschutz.
"What do you say to the people who are going to watch this on the news and just be outraged?" Lohse asked.
"I say to them, take a look at Florida Statute 960, which gives every victim in this state the right to make an impact on the sentencing," Bogenschutz said.
In a letter to the judge, the widows explained they couldn't afford to risk a trial.
"In the civil case, Ryan LeVin could win as well, or he could lose at trial, but because he'll be imprisoned or impoverished, I could receive a judgment that is uncollectable," Judge Barbara McCarthy read in court.
"That need far outweighs the need for a sentence of imprisonment and all the judge did is follow the law," Bogenschutz said.