This Might 7, 2020, file photograph, exhibits a Dunkin' Donuts on the Better Pittsburgh Worldwide Airport in Moon, Pa. (AP Picture/Gene J. Puskar, File)
TAMPA, FLA. --
A Florida Dunkin' worker accused of fatally punching a buyer who used a racial slur towards him pleaded responsible to felony battery and was sentenced to 2 years of home arrest.
A Tampa decide on Monday additionally ordered Corey Pujols, 27, to finish 200 hours of group service and attend an anger administration course.
Vonelle Prepare dinner was irate when he entered the Dunkin' retailer final Might and commenced yelling about customer support, police and prosecutors mentioned. When Pujols, who's Black, requested him to go away, Prepare dinner referred to as him a racial slur, and Pujols punched him.
Prepare dinner, 77, fell to the ground and knocked his head. He died three days later.
Pujols was initially charged with manslaughter.
In agreeing to a plea deal, prosecutors thought-about the "totality of the circumstances," together with Pujols' youth, his lack of prison historical past and the truth that he didn't intend to trigger Prepare dinner's demise, Grayson Kamm, a spokesman for Hillsborough State Legal professional Andrew Warren, advised the Tampa Bay Instances. He mentioned additionally they thought-about the conduct of Prepare dinner and what he mentioned.
"Two of the first components had been the aggressive strategy the sufferer took towards the defendant and everybody working with the defendant, and that the sufferer repeatedly used probably essentially the most aggressive and offensive time period within the English language," Kamm advised the newspaper.
Darrin Johnson, an lawyer for Pujols, declined to remark after the listening to.
In response to courtroom data, Prepare dinner was an everyday buyer who tried to order espresso on the drive-thru on Might 4. However the staff had bother listening to him, and he started berating them for his or her poor customer support. He was requested to go away, however he parked his automobile and went inside the shop.
When Prepare dinner appeared inside the shop, Pujols requested a coworker to name police. Prosecutors mentioned Prepare dinner started arguing with Pujols. As soon as Prepare dinner mentioned the racial slur, Pujols walked across the counter and advised him to not say that once more. When he repeated it, Pujols hit him within the jaw and Prepare dinner fell to the ground.
An post-mortem mentioned he suffered a cranium fracture and mind contusions.
Courtroom data present Prepare dinner was a registered intercourse offender. Nobody from Prepare dinner's household spoke at Monday's listening to.
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