Daniel Juwan Butler, 22, of Newburg pleaded guilty to manslaughter and waived his right to a jury trial on Thursday in the death of 21-year-old Taylor Anne Halbleib in December.
Butler is accused of killing Halbleib, a Hughesville resident, while driving drunk.
Almost all available seats in the courtroom were filled with friends and family of Halbleib, most of them wearing blue T-shirts bearing the logo for “Taylor’s Trot,” an annual fundraiser for the Humane Society of Charles County that was established in her memory.
An investigation by Maryland State Police officers found that on Dec. 7, 2017, Butler was driving eastbound on Route 6, west of Cooksey Road, when for unknown reasons he failed to stop, striking Halbleib’s car in the rear. Her car was then pushed into another car that was in front of it.
Halbleib was transported to the University of Maryland Charles Regional Medical Center, where she succumbed to her injuries.
Butler and a passenger in the pickup truck he was driving were both injured. A woman driving the vehicle that was in front of Halbleib was uninjured.
On June 1, Cpl. J. Zimmerman of the Maryland State Police CRASH Team presented the facts of MSP’s investigation to a grand jury for Charles County.
That same day, troopers from the MSP La Plata Barrack took Butler into custody without incident. He was later released on his own recognizance.
In accepting Butler’s plea, Judge Hayward J. West set a sentencing date of Tuesday, Oct. 30, at 1 p.m.
Halbleib’s friends and family were silent as sheriff’s deputies escorted Butler from the courtroom past them.
Following the plea hearing, friends and family gathered outside the Circuit Court building to hear Assistant States Attorney Francis J. Granados discuss the verdict and the upcoming sentencing hearing.
“Pleading guilty to manslaughter is literally the best outcome that we could have obtained,” Granados told the crowd.
Granados said that Butler could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.
Granados answered questions about the sentencing process and encouraged family and friends to submit witness impact statements and speak at the sentencing.
“Sentencings are as much, if not more, about the victim,” he said.
Halbleib’s father Robert thanked Granados before embracing him.
Halbleib was a student at the College of Southern Maryland, where she was majoring in criminal justice. She had hoped to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a police officer, serving in the K-9 division.
Charles County States Attorney Tony Covington told the Maryland Independent that his office was going to see the maximum penalty of 10 years as allowed by Maryland law.
“I don’t think the maximum penalties that are available for these types of crimes is enough,” Covington said. “This young lady’s life is erased from the earth and it’s not going to satisfy the family, unfortunately.”
“We don’t know what the judge is actually going to do, but you can believe the state will be asking for as much time as the judge will give,” he added.
Covington pointed out that on any given day, between 35 and 40 people will be killed by drunk drivers across the county.
“Drunk driving, and the deaths that result from it, really is preventable,” Covington said. “Unfortunately, here in the United States we, for whatever reason, won’t take the steps that are necessary to put very meaningful penalties on it.”
Originally Posted on Maryland Independent: