Golden Gate Estates man sentenced to 20 years in fatal DUI crash

A Collier County circuit court judge on Monday sentenced a Golden Gate Estates man to two decades in prison for his role in a deadly 2015 crash that killed James "Cecil" Riner, a father of four, and injured three others, including Riner's wife, Jessica Riner.

A jury in June found Rene Miles, 42, guilty of felony DUI manslaughter and one count of DUI causing serious bodily injury. It also convicted him of two lesser charges of DUI causing injury — instead of serious bodily injury — downgrading what were two felony charges to misdemeanors.

After a 2½-hour hearing Monday at the Collier County courthouse, Circuit Judge Frederick Hardt sentenced Miles to 20 years behind bars, with a four-year minimum mandatory sentence.

“There is no evidence in this record that the defendant has ever shown remorse,” Hardt said after Miles’ defense attorney asked the court to have mercy. “The statements made by counsel are nice, but they're not evidence.”

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Miles' sentence was the maximum penalty, receiving 15 years for one count of DUI manslaughter, five years for DUI serious bodily injury, and one year each for two counts of DUI with injury to person, which he will serve concurrently with the other charges, according to the State Attorney's Office.

Miles has also had his driver's license permanently revoked.

Hardt on Monday denied a motion for a new trial requested by Miles’ attorney, Seth LaVey, who argued that video evidence from a field sobriety test shown to jurors contained a counting exercise that shouldn't have been admitted during trial.

“That is testimonial,” LaVey said, referring to Miles’ counting during the exercise. “That is not to be introduced unless there is either an exception or whether Miranda has been read to Mr. Miles. Now, it wasn't. Those were specifically statements that your honor ruled would be excluded.”

Hardt disagreed.

“Even though the defendant was in custody, was not Mirandized, they were not statements intended to elicit an incriminating response,” he said. “They were statements made so that the officers could conduct the field sobriety exercise test.”

In his motion for new trial, LaVey also argued that prosecutors did not properly disclose an expert witness before the trial.

But after Assistant State Attorney Mara Marzano showed Hardt email printouts of correspondence between the state and defense discussing the witness before the trial, Hardt sided with prosecutors.

“It appears he was disclosed,” Hardt said of the expert witness. “All of his opinions, which were the opinions he gave at trial, had been disclosed prior to trial.”

Prosecutors said Miles was speeding and driving drunk Dec. 12, 2015, when he rear-ended a Dodge Durango that then careened across the median and slammed into a minivan carrying the Riners.

The crash on Golden Gate Boulevard near 27th Street Southwest in Golden Gate Estates injured three people and killed James "Cecil" Riner, 33.

Miles, who was not wearing a seat belt, was not hurt. Authorities said he never called 911, didn’t render aid and drove a quarter of a mile before stopping his Nissan Pathfinder in a turn lane.

Prosecutors had initially also charged Miles with leaving the scene of a crash involving a death, a felony, but the jury in June found him not guilty of that offense.

During the trial, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement crime lab analyst testified that Miles' blood alcohol content was 0.139 to 0.140 after a warrant allowed authorities to draw his blood 6½ hours after the crash. The legal limit in Florida is 0.08.

An engineer for Nissan who examined data from the “black box” of Miles’ vehicle testified Miles was driving up to 58 mph leading to the crash. The posted speed limit in that area is 45 mph.

Monday, in a courtroom packed with friends and family of both Riner and Miles, Hardt heard emotional testimony from many of Riner’s loved ones.

“My heart is forever broken,” said Jessica Riner, 35, who was also injured in the crash, reading from a prepared statement, often through tears.

“My hand hurts almost daily, on a daily basis, especially if it's cold or raining. I have scars on my face that may not be noticeable to you but to me, they are a reminder that I survived and Cecil didn't. I have to drive by the accident scene every single day.” 

Miles, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, listened to the testimony, his head often bowed as he sat in silence. LaVey told those present Monday his client could not apologize to the Riners himself because of upcoming legal appeals. 

But Miles’ aunt Barbara Mock Yen read from a statement, asking for forgiveness and vouching for her nephew.

“On behalf of my family and Rene, my heart goes out to the family,” she said. “All I can do is to ask for forgiveness. But certainly not asking you to forget.”