15 Years in Prison for Angelo Antolino, 31, for Killing Indiana Kerns, 59, in Drunk Driving Crash

Circuit Judge Terence Perkins imposed sentence this afternoon at the Flagler County courthouse after Antolino opted to halt further steps toward trial, which was approaching, and tender a plea. The sentence includes a five-year concurrent prison term for driving drunk and causing serious bodily injury. Two charges that could have doubled Antolino’s potential penalties–he could have faced up to 40 years in prison if found guilty on all charges–were dropped in exchange. He will serve no probation after his release.

Kerns’s husband William, 62, was severely injured in the head-on crash, suffering a fractured jaw, fractured shoulder, broken ribs, and fractured legs.

Antolino was at the wheel of a 2004 Chevrolet Trail Blazer, speeding north on U.S. 1 near Plantation Bay when he lost control, veered across the median and continued onto the southbound lanes, driving north. The Kerns were driving south in their Honda Accord. The Trail Blazer ignited after the crash, and a passerby saved Angelino’s life from the flames. He had been traveling at a speed of at least 111 mph at the moment of impact, the Florida Highway Patrol investigation found.

Antolino was driving on a suspended license. His blood analysis showed he was high on amphetamines and midazolam, a drug given patients before surgery to relieve their anxiety and that typically relaxes them to the point of near-sleep. A toxicology report indicated that his impairment from methamphetamines was “extremely high,” according to his arrest report. He was issued the four charges last May, where he’s remained. He tried to cut his $75,000 bond in half in December. Perkins refused.




Antolino, appearing in court with his attorney, Spencer O’Neal, pleaded no contest to the remaining charges. He will have to write an apology letter to William Kearns and his family in the next 30 days, before he is transfer=red to the state prison system. “We could probably get this done in the next two weeks just to make sure it’s done quickly,” his attorney said of the letter.

Having already served 386 days in jail, Antolino will be credited that time to his prison sentence. With gain time, or early release, he may be eligible to leave prison in about 11 and a half years. He has twice served prison terms before, though this third term will be his steepest.

Three previous prison sentences were imposed for crimes committed in Volusia County–grand theft and trafficking in stolen property, for which he served a few months of a year-long sentence at the beginning of the last decade, grand theft again in the middle of the last decade, for which he served less than a year in the system, then a conviction on a battery of a person older than 65, for which he again served a few months in prison. The seemingly abbreviated length of his prison terms did not reflect the amount of time he would have served at the county jail each time.