A judge has acquitted a Brevard County Sheriff’s deputy who was driving well over the speed limit in a 40-mph zone, when he struck and killed a pedestrian last September.
Judge Kelly Mckibben wrote in her judgement, the state could not prove Vincent Marino-Vitani was the deputy sheriff driving the patrol car when 65-year-old Henrietta Strong was stuck and killed on State Road 520 in Cocoa, reports Florida Today.
“The ultimate issue for this court is whether the state proved the identity of the driver that was alleged to have been speeding,” McKibben stated in the judgement for acquittal. “The court must assume that the defendant is innocent unless and until the state proves its case beyond and to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt.”
Florida Highway Patrol had cited Marino-Vitani for going 64 mph in the 40-mph zone when Strong was struck and killed.
