TAMPA, Fla. — Editor's note: The video above is from previous reporting.
The state of Florida's position on the length of Cameron Herrin's prison sentence for the 2018 death of a mother and her child along Bayshore Boulevard remains "unchanged," according to court documents.
The state is further asking the court to deny both Herrin's attorneys' motion to reduce his 24-year sentence and his request for a hearing on the motion. Last month, Herrin's attorneys filed the motion to reduce his sentence, potentially down to 10 years. Attorneys cited an old voicemail from now-suspended Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren in which he allegedly called the ruling "excessively harsh."
Herrin was 18 at the time of the crash. His attorneys argue that if he serves his 24-year sentence, he will be in his 40s when he is released but with a shorter sentence he could have hope for a future, court documents say.
But the state's response said courts have the "absolute right to ignore" the sentencing "opinions" and "recommendations" of prosecutors.
"At no point during the sentencing hearing did the Court solicit opinions from the prosecutors as to the appropriate sentence," the state's response stated, in part. "More specifically, at no point did the Court seek the personal opinions of Andrew Warren prior to imposing a sentence. Defendant cites no legal authority for his proposition the personal statements from Andrew Warren form a legal basis for reducing Defendant’s sentence."
The state added that Warren "never" spoke on record or appeared in court as a state prosecutor for Herrin's case. And, Warren didn't object to the sentence the court gave.
The state concluded the court's 24-year sentence was "soundly within its discretion." And, Herrin's attorneys' "most recent motion provides mere person opinions that have no weight under Florida law." For these reasons, the state asked the court to deny Herrin's motion.