Kimball May Alter Plea to Protect Insurance Money
Former Olympic diver Bruce Kimball may be allowed to change his guilty plea in a drunk-driving manslaughter case to safeguard insurance money for victims and their families, his attorney said.
The guilty plea Kimball entered Wednesday could amount to a breach of contract and allow his insurance company to cancel a $1.3-million liability insurance policy, said Frank Quesada, a lawyer for the 1984 silver medalist.
So Kimball may seek to change his plea to “no contest” before sentencing on Jan. 30, Quesada said.
“The company could cut Kimball loose,” he said. “It has nothing to do with the way Bruce feels. . . . A change (in pleas) would be all for the victims.”
Hillsborough Circuit Judge Harry Lee Coe III said he would accept a no-contest plea if it’s proven his policy would be canceled.
Kimball pleaded guilty after listening to only a few minutes of testimony about the Aug. 1 crash, which killed two teen-agers and injured four others. He said he wanted to spare the families the grief of hearing descriptions about how his car plowed into the youths on a dead-end road in suburban Brandon.
Kimball, 25, is being held in Hillsborough County Jail awaiting sentencing.
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