Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Tyler Patrick Hughey, 25, of Alachua, has been sentenced to 364 days in the Alachua County Jail, followed by five years of probation, after entering a plea of nolo contendere to leaving the scene of an accident with serious bodily injury.

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In June 2021, Hughey was charged with vehicular homicide in the death of Paola Detarso-Palmo on June 6, 2018. Yesterday he pled to a lesser charge of leaving the scene of an accident with serious bodily injury in exchange for a year in jail and five years of probation. The maximum sentence for the charge is 15 years in state prison. Hughey paid $7,500 in restitution to the estate of the victim as part of the plea deal; he will also be required to serve 120 hours of community service at a trauma center or hospital and attend a victim impact panel or advanced driver improvement course, along with a three-year suspension of his driver’s license. Judge Phillip Pena accepted the plea, and Darla Whistler was the prosecutor on the case.