MySpace used in jail sentence

By: Melanie Brooks

Land O'Lakes, Florida – When parents punish a teenager, many use the technique of taking something away that the child can't live without.

In this day and age, that “something” is MySpace.

Kids check the website in an almost rabid fashion, constantly posting comments and pictures.

Circuit Court Judge Pat Siracusa says it was this line of thinking that influenced a recent sentencing in the case of a teenager who hit a dying man last April.

As part of his sentence, the teen's MySpace page is now dedicated completely to the victim in the case. No funny photos, no witty comments.

Just the victim's face and a written memorial.

Judge Siracusa said, “I knew all his friends would check his MySpace page the next day. I figured it would be a fitting tribute to victim, and show a life had been lost.”

18-year-old Ryan Cornett is now living out that sentence, after appearing in court Wednesday.

Cornett left the scene of an accident April 21, 2007. The teen saw a man lying in the middle of Collier Parkway in Land O'Lakes, after the victim crashed his motorcycle.

Cornett hit 37-year-old Duke Gray and kept going.

He was charged with a felony, and Judge Siracusa agonized on how to sentence the teenager, who up until now, had a flawless driving record.

Cornett was also a bright student with all A's, a member of the varsity baseball team at Land O'Lakes High School, and was awarded a Bright Futures scholarship to any Florida university.

All of a sudden, the judge thought of MySpace.

“If it's constantly on your mind that there are serious consequences to your actions, you're more likely not to make those bad judgements.”

The teen also has to carry Gray's picture in his wallet everywhere he goes, and each year on the anniversary of Gray's death, Cornett will serve a jail sentence of two days.

In addition, the teen has a 9:00 curfew each night and must abide by a no-alcohol provision.

Gray's mother still grieves daily. The anguish shows on her face, as she tearfully remembers her son.

“It's my son.... is gone... he's gone. I don't know that a parent can ever get over that,” Cynthia Gray said, sitting in a hotel lobby in Wesley Chapel before she and her husband return to Tuscon where they live.

She says, according to the autopsy report, her son remained alive for 75 minutes after the crash. He was 45 seconds from home. Police say Gray was at fault in the accident and was not wearing a helmet.

But, Gray's mother says Ryan Cornett could have saved her son's life.

Now, it's that life he'll never forget during each day of his five-year probation.