Plea deal in crash angers family

Victim was killed in 2013 rollover on I-95 when van was hit in rear

Retired Miami-Dade firefighter Bruce Jonas says his younger sister Annie, killed in an Interstate 95 crash, did not receive justice in a Palm Beach County courtroom Tuesday.

“It’s one frustration after the next,” he said by phone, hours after a judge approved a plea deal for Warren Thomann, of West Boynton, resolving a vehicular homicide case with a year of jail time.

Margaret “Annie” Avitt was the front-seat passenger in a GMC Sierra van that was hit in the rear by an Audi A4 driven by Thomann, just before 10 a.m. Sept. 1, 2013.

The impact happened in the northbound lanes, south of Woolbright Road in Boynton Beach.

Avitt, who was traveling to her home near Melbourne, died the same day as the rollover wreck. She

was 52 and passed away one month before the birth of her first grandchild.

Thomann, 30, was charged nearly nine months after the high-speed crash.

A trial scheduled to begin this week was canceled after a settlement was negotiated between Assistant State Attorney Laura Laurie and defense attorney Richard Lubin. Thomann pleaded guilty in his “best interest.”

The main punishment is five years of probation, with the first 364 days to be served in Palm Beach County Jail.

Thomann, who received credit for 12 days already spent behind bars, must surrender on March 7 to begin serving his sentence, Circuit Judge John Kastrenakes ordered.

The main factor in settling the case turned out to be discrepancies over how fast Thomann’s car was moving at the time of impact, Lubin said.

“The entire premise of the arrest was faulty,” he said. “The Florida Highway Patrol botched the investigation. Their speeds were way off.”

Recent findings showed the speed of the Audi was considerably less than the 105 mph listed on the Florida Highway Patrol’s report at the time of Thomann’s arrest, Laurie told the judge.

The prosecutor said her expert placed the speed of Thomann’s car at between 86 mph and 91 mph before the crash, which was closer to the conclusion reached by the defense’s examination.

But witnesses had told troopers that they observed the Audi going about 100 mph and “dangerously fast.”

Jonas said the van carrying his sister was going about 77 mph at the time, while Thomann had to be “flying up the highway” at a far greater speed, based on the crash damage on the Audi.

Jonas said he looked at the vehicles two days after his sister died, and he based his observations on his experience with responding to car crashes over three decades.

After his release from jail, Thomann still will be required to serve one year on house arrest with a GPS ankle monitor. He will be allowed to work and attend classes and get haircuts once a month.

Finally, the plea terms call for 100 hours of community service and a threeyear driver’s license suspension.

“If this was your sister, would you be happy and think justice was served?” asked Jonas, who said Avitt’s son, Marcus Greene, shares his anger over the outcome.

As part of the plea deal, Thomann must write apology letters to Greene, a U.S. Navy chief who is currently out of the country, and Mark Alicandro, the driver of the GMC van who was Avitt’s friend.

Lubin said Avitt’s death was a “terrible tragedy,” and his client opted to take the plea deal rather than take the risk of going to trial.

Thomann was jailed after the crash in an unrelated case, records show.

About three months after the fatal crash, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Thomann after his girlfriend reported she had been choked and threatened at gunpoint with an assault rifle.

In May 2014, Thomann pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and domestic battery.

He was sentenced to a year in jail, but no felony charges appeared on his record.

Meanwhile, the loss and delays in Thomann’s case have been tough for Avitt’s friends and loved ones, who’ve kept up a Facebook tribute page in her memory.

They recall a vivacious woman who grew up in Key West and began working for AT&T as a teenager. She stayed with the company until her retirement at age 50.

“In her spare time, she loved spending time in the sun, collecting shells and laughing with friends,” read her obituary notice. “You hardly ever caught her without a smile on her face.”