Colon testifies during trial that she thought she hit pothole – WPTV

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A woman charged in a 2021 hit-and-run crash that left a 10-year-old girl dead has been found guilty on all charges. – By: Kate Hussey

 Attorney Jerome Stone during closing arguments in the Arianna Colon trial.

by Raychel Lean

The Fourth District Court of Appeal weighed in on liability in a negligence case that the trial judge had called morally “horrific.”

The Fourth District Court of Appeal Wednesday reversed a summary judgment in favor of a Florida marine equipment and repair company embroiled in a negligence lawsuit, finding the business could be found liable for two on-premises attacks that left a man with a broken neck, facial fractures and nerve damage.

The appellate panel analyzed case law that says property owners do not have a duty to protect an invitee from a criminal attack by a third party, unless that attack was reasonably foreseeable.

She identified her attackers as 18-year-old Martin Lyke and 16-year-old Kenneth Atkins. She said that she was on a lounge chair near the pool and that Lyke forced her to engage in oral sex while Atkins straddled the chair and raped her. A condom was found nearby that had traces of the DNA of the victim and of Atkins.

Three weeks later, Lyke and Atkins were charged with sexual battery by multiple perpetrators. Atkins was charged as an adult.

Lyke pled no contest and was sentenced to six years in prison. Atkins went on trial in Martin County Circuit Court in July 2004.

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