New details emerge of drunk driving crash that killed father and son visiting UCF
ORANGE COUNTY, Florida. – A woman accused of driving under the influence and killing a father and son in an accident while visiting UCF from Colorado previously faced deportation on a child abuse case, according to court documents.
Lesley Geret, 40, was arrested earlier this week after a fatal crash on Lake Underhill Road at Rose Road. Father and son Shane Lloyd, 50, and Jacob Lloyd, 19, were driving in a Kia when Gereth ran a red light and crashed into the right side of the car.
This is Geret’s third arrest in Orange County since December 2019, which included an arrest for aggravated battery and child abuse, which was eventually dropped, records show. In this case, prosecutors offered a plea deal that would have given her probation and included a deportation clause.
Here’s what the records show:
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Aggravated battery, arrest for child abuse – December 2019
According to the arrest affidavit, Geret’s boyfriend at the time told deputies that one of the children in the house told him that Geret “hit her over the head with a belt”. At one point, Geret was handed water in a glass measuring cup, which she hit her boyfriend in the forehead with, an affidavit shows.
While her boyfriend refused to press charges, Geret was still held in jail without bail. She was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and child abuse. She was also charged with violating pre-trial release when she contacted one of the victims after her arrest.
In April 2020, Geret agreed not to contest the allegations. The part of the plea deal where Gereth signed her initials included a clause that said, “I understand that if I am not a citizen of the United States, I WILL be deported. I also had a significant opportunity to consult with a lawyer(s) regarding deportation. I understand that neither the lawyer(s) nor the judge can advise or guarantee that I will or will not be deported.”
She was not given an additional prison sentence on the plea case and was sentenced to five years of probation for drugs and drug addiction treatment.
Her guilty verdict was signed and approved by the judge in April 2020.
A month later, in May 2020, Geret’s immigration attorney filed a motion on her behalf to withdraw her waiver of the charges because her criminal defense lawyer did not read all the terms of the deal and that it was entered into “involuntarily.”
“The defense attorney did not advise Ms Geret of possible remedies, but instead instructed Ms Geret that her only option was to accept the application. It is important to note that the defense lawyer never informed Ms Geret that she would be deported if she accepted the application. Rather, the defense lawyer simply informed Ms Geret that she would be deported if she accepted the application,” the petition says.
The petition also alleged that Geret’s criminal defense attorney “encouraged Ms Geret to accept the application, advising her that even if she were deported on these charges, the process would be lengthy and would likely take several years.”
Her immigration attorney also cited an arrest report that incorrectly listed her as a US citizen despite being born in Germany.
In the end, in August 2020, the court granted the withdrawal of Geret’s application, which canceled her deportation. The charges were dropped in December 2020.
News 6 asked prosecutors about how the previous administration made decisions at the time.
“At the time, we were unable to proceed with the 2019 case to prove beyond reasonable doubt, so the case had to be closed,” an office spokesman said.
News 6 also requested additional records containing the prosecutor’s notes on the case. They testified that the victims did not want to testify and wanted to close the case. They “lived their lives” and wanted nothing more to do with the case.
Court records at the time show that Geret had already counted the 64 days in prison included in her original sentence before her application was withdrawn.
Drunk Driving Arrest – July 2022
According to an affidavit, Geret was arrested for drunk driving in Orlando after reckless driving around Colonial Drive and Coy Road.
The officers found her in her jeep on the side of the road, where they were talking to her and smelled “a strong smell of alcohol”.
There was no damage to property or other drivers.
Geret signed another agreement in February 2022 in which he did not contest the charge of driving under the influence, which is a second-degree offense. Court records show that she was represented by the same attorney who mentioned her immigration status in the 2019 case, and this time he did not mention any issues based on the audio recording of the verdict obtained by News 6.
According to court records, Geret was given a one-year suspended sentence and her license was also suspended for six months.
Five months later, she is arrested again after the accident that killed Jacob Lloyd and his father.
Geret remains in the Orange County Jail on several charges, including drunk manslaughter, vehicular homicide, two previous convictions for drunk driving, violating probation, and driving with a suspended license.
News 6 has contacted lawyers representing Geret in the 2019 and 2022 cases and has yet to receive a response.
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