'SHE NEEDS TO BE PUNISHED': Franziska Schroff to serve 30 months for DUI manslaughter of Destin co-worker

SHALIMAR — Franziska Christine Schroff will serve 30 months in prison for her role in a drunken driving accident last October that killed 22-year-old Robyn Jade Rogers.

She’ll spend the following 12-and-a-half years under the threat of more prison time if she drives or messes again with drugs or alcohol.

For photos of the accident, click here.

Okaloosa County Circuit Judge William Stone on Tuesday imposed a 15-year sentence, but suspended all but 30 months of it.

After her release, Schroff will spend the first 24 months under community control, which amounts to house arrest. She will be on probation for the rest of the 15 years.

Any violations of the conditions of her probation can send her back to prison to complete the 15-year sentence.

Stone rejected the passionate argument of Schroff’s attorney, David Oberliesen, for a sentence that didn’t include prison time.

“I don’t believe no incarceration is appropriate in this case,” Stone said.

Schroff was driving the night of Oct. 12, 2010, when Rogers died. The two were co-workers at Harry T's and had decided to go out to nightspots, according to testimony at the sentencing hearing.

Because Schroff, who was 20 at the time, wasn’t old enough to drink, Rogers bought alcohol for her and they drank in the restroom of a nightclub, Oberliesen told the court.

Rogers died when Schroff struck a utility pole in Destin near the Donut Hole with a Mercury Gran Marquis.

She told law enforcement officers later she thought a white vehicle had been following her on U.S. Highway 98 and ran off the road when she diverted her eyes to look at the vehicle.

Schroff, whose blood-alcohol content was 0.154, was later charged with DUI manslaughter.

She pleaded no contest to the charge earlier this year. It was up to Stone to impose a sentence he saw fit.

Prosecutor Angela Mason asked him for a 10.4-year prison term.

“She needs to be punished harshly,” she said. “She needs to tell people afterward that prison time sucked and I had to go because I made a bad decision.”

Oberliesen said Schroff deserved a lighter sentence because her crime had been unsophisticated, or unintentional. She also had shown remorse and had no prior criminal record, he said.

He argued that Schroff could do more good out of prison by speaking to young people about the dangers of drinking and driving.

“She’s young and she made some poor decisions,” Oberliesen said. “Unfortunately her poor decisions had horrible consequences.”

Stone’s sentence was a downward departure from the state-mandated minimum, but doesn’t forgo jail time.

“When I became a judge they gave me this,” Stone said as he held up his gavel. “Unfortunately, it is not a magic wand I can use to change what has been done, we’re stuck with the consequences.

“It doesn’t matter what I do here today. There’s going to be pain for everybody involved.”

Stone ordered Schroff to undergo random alcohol and drug testing for the length of her probation.

Her driving privileges were permanently revoked and she will be required to speak to young people, accompanied by a large photograph of Rogers, about her situation and the dangers of drinking and driving.

Mason said Rogers’ family, which had struggled with the idea of punishment, was “very comfortable” with the sentence.