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Bond revoked for driver in hit-run crash that killed cyclist
Feb 09, 2010 (The Miami Herald - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Facing more serious charges, the handsome pop musician accused of drunkenly driving away from a fatal bicycling accident learned Monday that he would not be allowed to leave jail.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge David Miller ruled that Carlos G. Bertonatti, 28, should be held without bond after prosecutors alleged he was not entirely truthful when he told the court he had only a Venezuelan passport.
It wasn't mentioned that Bertonatti holds another passport from Argentina, which federal agents discovered. Bertonatti has also listed himself as a citizen of Romania, in addition to residential-alien status in the United States.
Armed with evidence of Bertonatti's multiple citizenships, Miller granted the wish of prosecutors, who feared the suspect might flee the country to evade prosecution.
"The web of deceit has caught up with him," State Attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle said. "He can't bond out and now he's got to sit there, in jail, and wait."
The defendant has pleaded not guilty to the charges he faces, which include DUI manslaughter. Bertonatti's lawyer, Leonard Sands, did not respond to a telephone call or an e-mail Monday evening seeking his comment.
About 8 a.m. Jan. 17, Christophe Le Canne was thrown off his bicycle after he was hit from behind by a Volkswagen Jetta on the the Bear Cut Bridge in Key Biscayne. Le Canne was riding in a bike lane.
Police caught Bertonatti a few miles east, with a bicycle lodged underneath the front of his car. He was no stranger to traffic incidents -- he had received 42 citations in the past dozen years.
In a motion filed Monday, prosecutors noted that his alleged hit-and-run was not the first time Bertonatti might have been elusive. In 2002, he failed to report to court while facing battery charges. That case was eventually thrown out.
He originally $105,000 bond on a slew of charges in the Jan. 17 incident, including second-degree felony DUI manslaughter and one count of fleeing and eluding, which is a third-degree felony. Combined, he faced 21 years in prison.
On Monday, prosecutors upgraded those charges to first-degree felony DUI manslaughter and first-degree leaving the scene of a crash involving death. Altogether, those charges are punishable by 67 years in prison.
If the judge didn't withhold bond, prosecutors asked for Bertonatti's bond to be upped to $100 million.
The case is being closely watched by the region's cycling community, which has long lobbied for a more bike-friendly South Florida. Cycling advocates have suggested multiple ways to prevent another incident, from stiffening punishments against drivers who infringe on cyclists' rights to tighter drinking laws and creating a physical barrier between bike lanes and car lanes.
On Bear Cut Bridge, a bicycle spray-painted white hangs on the rail as a way to honor the victim.
To see more of The Miami Herald or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
http://www.herald.com. Copyright (c) 2010, The Miami Herald Distributed by
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email
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