Plant City Woman Gets 67 Years for the Second Fatal Drunk Driving

TAMPA – A second-time plant city woman in her life should serve in a prison in 67 years, driving a drunken man and killing someone, a judge ruled Friday.

Jennifer Carbajar cried and buried her face behind her long black locks throughout the three-hour sentencing hearing. She repeatedly apologised to her cousin who was killed in an interstate crash crash, and to the family of two other seriously injured Pedro Carvajal.

“I’m sorry, I never could have forgiven myself, no matter how many times I told each of you or even him,” Carvajal said.

Hillsboro Circuit Judge G. Gregory Green said he struggled to understand how 28-year-old Carvajal, 28, was accused of the same fatal crime.

“It’s as if they took steps to ensure that it happens, rather than taking every step to avoid putting themselves in that situation again,” Green told Carbahal. “And that’s not understandable to this court.”

The punishment, which had not reached the life sentence that the prosecutors sought, is twice the 33 years suggested as the bottom of the state guidelines, effectively doubled the defense’s request to impose a judge. It effectively ensures that Kavajal, the earliest to leave prison when she was in the late 70s.

In her previous case, on Friday, the judge also heard testimony about Carbahar’s horrible childhood, including sexual abuse at the hands of male relatives.

The abuse only became apparent after nine-year-old Carvajal was diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease, social workers testified. She had never received substantial mental health treatment for her later staying with traumatic stress disorder and depression. At 11, she was drinking beer at school. She was contemplated suicide and was known to hurt herself with broken glass.

“Jennifer committed these things because she was broken,” said assistant official defender Nicole Engebressen. “She was a broken child that was not healed.”

However, this time there was little conception that Karbajar’s past fears should be secured for anything other than long sentences.

“They lost their lives at the hands of Jennifer Carbajal,” Assistant Dawn Hart told the court. “This community is not safe if Miss Carbahal is allowed back to society.”

The packed court heard details of what led to a clash from one of the survivors.

Lexcia Gonzalez was Pedro Carbajal’s girlfriend. They had a son named Julian.

As a witness, she said she knew Jennifer Carbajar, but wasn’t going well. She knew she had gone to prison.

On the night of April 24, 2021, the three of them met for the family gathering at Pedro’s grandfather’s house in Plant City. Another cousin, Grady Ramirez, was there too. Later that night, they left Gonzalez’s car, Silver Hyundai Elantra.

They first went to Twilight Zone Lounge, a liquor store near the Hillsboro County Line. They bought a bottle of Hennessy Cognac.

They later went to the Circle K store and bought a polar pop to mix the liquor. They drank the night, wandered around the waffle house, alternating polar pops and took them directly from Hennessy bottles.

Later that night they went to another circle K to use the toilet. While they were there, Carbahal asked Gonzalez if he could drive.

“The first time I ignored it,” Gonzalez testified. “She asked again.”

When they left, Gonzalez was in the passenger seat. The two men were in the back seat. Kavajal drove.

They headed to Ibor city. When they moved to reach Interstate 4, Gonzalez realized that Carvajal had a problem with the steering.

On the highway she pushed gas. Gonzalez watches her use her phone to shoot a speedometer snapchat video, showing the car reaches 100 mph.

The blue light lit up behind me. Gonzalez told Carvallar to slow down.

“She started to panic,” Gonzalez said. “And she says she doesn’t want to go back to prison.”

Carvajal turned the wheels violently. The car entered the ditch, then up the embankment, crossed the fence and entered the Gatorford Auto Dealer’s parking lot. It capsized, crashed into a truck, knocking down concrete poles and palm trees.

Gonzalez had a blackout. When she woke up she was on the pavement. She felt a fiery pain in her body. Both her thighs were broken.

Pedro Carbajal lay on a patch of grass bleeding from his head, his legs fixed under the crumpled metal of the car.

Jennifer Carbajar ran out of the wreckage and went to him. She tried to pull him out and began to cry, Gonzalez said.

She said to Gonzalez: Tell me you’re driving.

She walked to the fence line that borders the interstate. There, a Road Ranger and two bystanders met her in response to the crash.

“I’m doing a paper,” Ranger heard her say. “I have a curfew. I’m not supposed to be driving.”

She said she needed to leave. But soon the Florida Highway Patrol troopers arrived. They noticed that Karbahal’s left shoulder was stretched towards her hips and there was a bruise. The car driver’s seat belt has been extended. None of the other belts were used.

FDLE analysts determined that Carvajal’s blood alcohol content at the time of the collision ranged between .10 and .14, exceeding the .08 limit, which the state estimates disability.

Ten years ago, Carbahal was accused of causing the death of a man named Keith Allen Davis. He had been delivering copies of the Tampa Tribune early one morning in February 2014.

As the sun rose, he moved the black Toyota Echo to North Alexander Street. At the same time, Carvallar hurried through a red light in the SUV at 55 mph and plowed into his car. Davis was declared dead in the hospital. Karbahal was a few days away from his 17th birthday when it happened.

This is a developing story. Check tampabay.com for updates.