DADE CITY - A former taxi driver was sentenced to 40 months in prison Monday for fatally beating a man with a metal pipe two years ago.
David John Trombley, 29, pleaded guilty to a charge of unnecessary killing to prevent an unlawful act, a second-degree felony.
He will get credit for the nearly two years he spent in the county jail awaiting trial.
Trombley was charged in the death of 43-year-old Joe Francis Burke, who died March 23, 2006, 10 days after Trombley struck him with the pipe during a fight at a Zephyrhills mobile home park.
Witnesses told investigators that Burke and another man, Chris Parz, were fighting. Burke swung a wrench at Parz, and Parz swung a club at Burke. Neither connected. That's when Trombley hit Burke with the pipe.
When Pasco County sheriff's deputies responded, Burke told them he had only a small cut on his side. The next morning, he checked himself into Florida Hospital Zephyrhills, where he died.
Trombley was charged two months later.
Todd Leskanic
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