Double Hit & Run Killer Gets Ultimate Prison Buy Out Deal; Dodges 20-45 Year Sentence, Gets 24 Months House Arrest At Luxury Hi-Rise Oceanfront Condo

In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports:

• A privileged Illinois man who fled after running down two British businessmen in his speeding Porsche avoided prison [] and will instead serve out a 2-year sentence at a luxury oceanfront condo.
• Ryan LeVin, 36, will be on house arrest at one of his parents' two condos at the Point of Americas on Fort Lauderdale Beach(1) – less than two miles from where he careened into the British visitors as they walked to their hotel two years ago. The house confinement will be followed by 10 years of probation. LeVin, who hails from a prominent Chicago family, worked out a deal to pay the victims' families an undisclosed sum.
• The widows supported the sentence, and their attorneys collected checks from LeVin immediately after the [...] hearing, where he pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of a fatal accident and two counts of vehicular homicide.

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• Sentencing guidelines called for 20 to 45 years in prison, and prosecutor Stefanie Newman asked for 10 years. "He needs to go to prison,'' Newman said in court. "He needs to be penalized for his actions."
• In imposing the lighter sentence, Broward Circuit Judge Barbara McCarthy said, "The need for restitution does outweigh the need for prison."
• Both widows wrote letters to the judge, describing the "financial hardship" they've suffered since losing their husbands, who were the sole earners of their families. Watkinson left behind a wife, Kirsty, two sons, 5 and 21, and an 18-year-old daughter. Elford and his wife, Claire, had two young daughters.
• The widows agreed to LeVin staying out of prison with certain conditions, including immediate payment to settle a civil wrongful death lawsuit they filed against him.

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• At the time of the hit-and-run, LeVin was on probation in Illinois for a 2006 high-speed chase in Chicago that injured a police officer and two motorists. He had multiple convictions in Florida, Illinois and Texas for speeding, disobeying traffic lights, improper lane passing, fleeing and eluding police officers, and cocaine possession.
• Illinois officials will work with Florida authorities to have LeVin brought back to his home state, where he faces a parole violation stemming from the 2006 incident, an Illinois corrections spokeswoman said. Illinois will seek to have LeVin's parole revoked and have him sent back to prison.

For more, see Porsche hit-and-run killer gets house arrest in Fort Lauderdale oceanfront condo.

See also:

• Ryan LeVin's hit-and-run sentence is beyond outrageous (Cushy house arrest is an insult to justice),
• Ryan LeVin: Justice bought and paid for?

(1) Located on Port Everglades Inlet, Point of Americas boasts a "spectacular private beach,'' three fitness centers and luxury condos where residents can watch cruise ships from their terraces, the story reports.