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St. Petersburg Mom Guilty of Manslaughter after Car Accident

Two years ago, Lesa Ledesma let her 15-year-old son drive her car, even though he was too young to have a license.  Her son, Shawn, crashed into a tree and his 14-year-old passenger was killed.

Ledesma has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 30 days in jail and will be on probation for five years for her involvement with the Florida car accident.  Two of those years will be spent on house arrest.  Normally, a manslaughter conviction has a sentence of 9 ½ to 15 years in prison.

This case is one of the first in the country where prosecutors charged a parent with manslaughter for letting a child drive without a license. 

The fatal car accident took place in September 2007, when Shawn asked his mom if he could borrow her car to give some girls a ride.  Lesa eventually agreed.  As Shawn was driving back with six teenagers in his car, he hit a curb and crashed into a tree on 62nd Avenue N.  Raquel Carreras was ejected through the sun roof of the Saturn and was killed.

Ledesma’s attorney said that the trial could have gone either way and that the agreement made was a good one.

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