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Daytona Beach, FL – A Daytona Beach Shores man facing up to 30 years in prison gets 4 years instead for a drug-related traffic incident that led to another man’s death.
Joseph W. Daugherty learned his fate on Thursday in a Volusia County courtroom during a sentencing hearing in front of 7th Circuit Judge Terence R. Perkins.
The 30-year-old was convicted by a Volusia County jury last July of leaving the scene of a crash involving death in the May 2013 accident that killed 34-year-old Joshua Krodel.
Daugherty will have 3 years of probation once he leaves prison, according to Spencer Hathaway, a spokesman for the office of 7th Circuit State Attorney RJ Larizza.
Hathaway also noted after the sentencing that prosecutors argued for a prison sentence of 10 years followed by 5 years of probation.
The Daytona Beach Police Department says Daugherty was driving a dark-colored sedan near the Harvey Avenue and South Hollywood Avenue intersection when he had an argument with Krodel around midnight on May 13, 2013.
Investigators believe Krodel was involved in a drug deal with Daugherty when the two had some sort of disagreement and Daugherty began to drive away.
That’s when witnesses told police Krodel tried to grab on to that car but he didn’t hang on for very long before falling off, hitting hit his head on the pavement in the process.
Krodel was transported to Halifax Health Medical Center from the scene and declared brain dead before he died the following day.
When brought in for questioning the day after Krodel’s death, Daugherty allegedly told police that he was leaving a friend’s house when Krodel came out “drunk as hell screaming”, per the arrest report.
Daugherty also claimed that Krodel kept harassing him as he tried to drive away and he intentionally sped up until Krodel could no longer hold onto the vehicle.
A witness who was riding as a passenger in the car told DBPD Daugherty was going around 30 miles per hour when Krodel lost his grip on the vehicle and that they “freaked out and kept going”, according to the report.
Daugherty told police that he saw Krodel fall but “I figured he would get his drunk ass up”, per the report.
Daugherty’s actual sentence will be closer to 3 years because of 301 days already served at Volusia County Jail.
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Joseph W. Daugherty (mugshot courtesy VCJ)
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