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Driver in deadly DUI crash takes plea deal
Gloria Gomez reports
RUSKIN, Fla. - On Halloween night 2021, a Ruskin intersection turned into a deadly crash scene when prosecutors say a drunk driver ran a stop sign and killed two people.
On Wednesday, Katrina Mattice, who is facing several charges including two counts of DUI manslaughter, decided to take a plea deal, but she had one more legal trick up her sleeve before taking the offer.
She says it was something besides alcohol that impaired her driving that night.
"My client believes that she was given some type of date rape drug. There was some found in her system at the hospital, judge," said her attorney Daniel Nawara.
Katrina Mattice took a plea deal of 25 years behind bars and ten years of probation.
But prosecutor Jessica Couvertier dismissed that theory by pointing out that the night of the crash, an ER doctor had given her a sedative at the hospital just before her blood draw.
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"There’s also an abundance of evidence against Ms. Matisse in this matter that contradicts that she was given a date rape drug and certainly if the defense wants to put that before a jury they can certainly make that argument," stated Couvertier.
Two people were killed in the Halloween night crash.
That Halloween night, prosecutors say Mattice left a party after having several drinks. As she drove her gray Ford Fusion, she approached the intersection of 4th Street NW and 11th Avenue NW in Ruskin and ran the stop sign.
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They say she slammed into a Nissan Titan. The driver, Antonio Woods, was killed and a passenger in Mattice's car, died too.
Antonio Woods along with Mattice's passenger were killed in the crash.
"She was drinking at a party that night. She did get behind the wheel. She was driving an excess of 100 miles per hour and she was being reckless," said Couvertier.
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Staring at a long prison sentence, Mattice took a plea deal of 25 years behind bars and ten years of probation.
A makeshift memorial for Antonio Woods sits at the site of the fatal crash.
But at the sight of the crash scene, one year later, sits a makeshift cross for victim Antonio Woods with his nickname the "Woodyman" written on it.
Prosecutors say for those who love and miss him, it’s a lifetime reminder of Mattice’s reckless decision that night.