BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — A man was found guilty on all counts in the first texting and driving case to go to trial in Florida.
After just two hours of deliberating on Friday, a six-member jury in Hernando County found Gregory Andriotis, 39, guilty of one count of vehicular homicide and three counts of reckless driving for a 2016 crash that killed Logan Scherer, 9.
The crash also seriously injured the child's parents and his younger sister.
For Logan's parents, this week's trial and verdict represent justice they've been waiting years for.
"To hear that the fight was worth it, that now we have the opportunity to really take Logan's light and to move it forward for other families," Brooke Scherer, Logan's mother, said. "We started out with this five years ago because we wanted to prevent families from ever having to go through what we've been through, and we didn't know that we were ever going to be able to make something big out of it, but today it happened.
Police records show in 2016 that Andriotis slammed into the back of the family's Mazda while they were in traffic on Interstate 75 near Brooksville.
Logan's parents and witnesses said Andriotis was on his cellphone and using multiple applications when he crashed into them, causing a chain reaction wreck.
After Friday's verdict was announced, Andriotis was immediately taken into custody. He will be sentenced in June and faces up to 30 years in prison.
Following Logan's death, his parents made it their mission to toughen up texting and driving laws in Florida. Texting and driving is considered a primary offense in Florida.
