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The Villages
Thursday, October 31, 2024

Plea deal could be in works for Villager whose Mercedes struck down two bicyclists

Marilyn Hamilton

A plea deal could be in the works for a Villager whose Mercedes struck down husband-and-wife bicyclists in 2020.

A continuance has been granted for 90-year-old Marilyn Hamilton of the Village of Gilchrist who had been facing a trial previously scheduled for this week in Sumter County Court.

Hamilton is now scheduled to enter a plea on Dec. 20 before Judge Mary Hatcher. A pre-plea pre-sentencing investigation has been ordered in the case, thus it appears a plea deal could be in the works. The former Michigan resident has no previous criminal record and it is highly unlikely she would be sentenced to time behind bars at her age. She will turn 91 later this month.

Hamilton has pleaded not guilty to felony counts of hit and run. She is charged with hitting Village of Dunedin residents Jessica Laube and Robert Hunter, who had been riding on Morse Boulevard on Oct. 30, 2020. They were both struck by a white Mercedes driven by Hamilton. She allegedly stopped, looked at the crumpled bicyclists on the ground, got back in her car and fled the scene. She had her damaged 2014 Mercedes towed to a dealership in Gainesville, leading to her arrest on Nov. 5, 2020 at her home on Twisted Oak Way.

Laube, an experienced cyclist who is a member of the Sumter Landing Bike Club, was airlifted to Ocala Regional Medical Center where she remained in the intensive care unit for 30 days. She suffered 17 broken ribs, a collapsed lung, paralyzed vocal chord, broken am, broken wrist, torn finger tendons and ligaments and brain injuries. Hunter was also injured, but his wife, who was following him, suffered the greatest impact from the Mercedes.

Hamilton remains free on bond. Her driving privileges have been suspended.

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