A Plant City man faces up to 15 years in prison after being convicted today in a fatal motorcycle wreck in 2008.
A Hillsborough County jury deliberated for about 90 minutes before finding Paul David Gatta guilty of driving under the influence-manslaughter.
Gatta, 49, will be sentenced July 15 in the death of Angela Maria Fattarusso.
Authorities said Gatta's blood-alcohol level was 0.099 percent hours after the wreck. Florida law presumes impairment at 0.08 percent.
Testimony showed Gatta and Fattarusso met at the Finish Line Saloon, 5402 W. U.S. 92, on the night of Sept. 24, 2008, and went for a ride on his motorcycle.
Investigators said the motorcycle went into a ditch, overturned, struck a chain-link fence and landed in a tree just west of Moores Lake Road.
A passer-by found a bloody Gatta clinging to a construction barrier in the middle of U.S. 92 the next morning. Fattarusso's body was on the side of the road.
Gatta's attorney said no one could disprove that Fattarusso, 50, was at the wheel of the motorcycle.
But prosecutors told jurors that was doubtful because Fattarusso was blind.
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