Prosecutors treated them like adversaries, threatened with arrest
The parents of Ali Spice, the TikTok star killed along with two other young people when a wrong-way driver collided with her boyfriend’s car, said the conviction and jailing of her boyfriend was like losing another young life.
Jimmy and Tamara Dulin, the parents of Alexandra Dulin, who was known as Ali Spice to nearly a million followers on TikTok, also said their opposition to Devin Perkins’ prosecution created a split with prosecutors who at one point even threatened them with arrest.
“The minute that we let the state know we were not in favor of the charges for Devin they have treated us no longer as a victim, they have treated us as adversaries … ,” Jimmy Dulin said in an interview with The News-Journal.
The Dulins said they were threatened with arrest at one point by a prosecutor and also subjected to a failed attempt at a gag order. They also said they felt “used” by a social media post from prosecutors announcing Perkins’ conviction.
Bryan Shorstein, a spokesman for the State Attorney’s Office, did not address questions regarding the Dulins’ comments in an email from The News-Journal.
“This is a very difficult case for all the families involved,” Shorstein wrote. “Because this is an ongoing case, our office has no additional comment at this time.”
The crash was particularly horrible, taking three young lives. In addition to 21-year-old Dulin, Kyle Moser, 25, of Daytona Beach, and Ava Fellerman, 20, of Treasure Island, were killed. Perkins, 24, suffered serious injuries.
Alexandra Dulin, known as Ali Spice on TikTok, was the girlfriend of Devin Perkins, the man convicted of three counts of vehicular homicide after he was hit by a drunk driver headed in the wrong direction on State Road 44.
The case led to an unusual split when the office of 7th Circuit State Attorney R.J. Larizza decided to file charges not only against the wrong-way driver, Thomas Petry, but also against Perkins, who was speeding and had a level of alcohol well below the legal limit in his system.
The families of Dulin and Moser have opposed Perkins’ prosecution. Fellerman’s father, Gregory Fellerman, a former prosecutor in Pennsylvania who is now a personal injury attorney there, has supported it, saying at one hearing the behavior of both Petry and Perkins was “reprehensible.”
Perkins was driving Dulin, Moser and Fellerman back from an Orlando nightclub in an Infiniti sedan on Dec. 11, 2022.
The wrong-way driver, Petry, of Orange City, was driving a pickup belonging to Joanna Dillon, who was a passenger. Petry and Dillon had been drinking at the Fraternal Order of Eagles in Orange City before Petry got behind the wheel of Dillon’s pickup to drive her home, according to court records.
Petry was driving westbound in the eastbound lanes of State Road 44 when the pickup collided with the sedan east of Interstate 4. After the crash, Petry walked away from the wreckage and fled, leaving the dead and injured. Dillon, like Perkins, was seriously injured and taken to a hospital.
Petry, 55, has entered an open plea to three counts of vehicular homicide, three counts of leaving the scene of a crash with death, leaving the scene of a crash involving serious injury and reckless driving – serious bodily injury. The open plea means there is no agreement with prosecutors and Petry will face up to life in prison when he is sentenced Nov. 6.
Thomas Petry pleads no contest before Judge Dawn Nichols in court, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024.
In charging Perkins, prosecutors said he was driving the Infiniti at nearly 100 mph just before the crash. Prosecutors also said a test showed Perkins’ blood alcohol content was 0.028, showing he had been drinking, even though the level was well below the 0.08 at which point a driver is legally intoxicated. They also introduced evidence that THC, a metabolite of marijuana, was found in Perkins’ blood. Perkins testified during trial that he had smoked the day before.
Perkins turned down a prosecution plea offer of 10 to 20 years in prison with the judge deciding the sentence. Instead, he opted to go to trial.
That trial ended Sept. 30 when a jury took about 20 minutes to return guilty verdicts against Perkins on three counts of vehicular homicide for the deaths of Dulin, Moser and Fellerman and one count of reckless driving -serious bodily injury for the injuries suffered by Dillon, the passenger in the pickup who had been drinking with Petry.
Perkins’ sentencing has not yet been scheduled. His defense attorneys have filed a motion to interview a juror based on allegations of possible misconduct. He faces up to life in prison.
Ali Spice’s father: Prosecutors shut them out
And the Dulins said prosecutors won’t talk to them.
“They talk to the Fellerman family about Devin,” Jimmy Dulin said.
“They never ever told our family that they were going after Devin,” he said.
Jimmy Dulin said that they did not know that Perkins was going to be charged until 30 minutes before he was arrested on April 7, 2023. Before his arrest, prosecutors talked to them about Petry, but never mentioned Perkins.
After Perkins’ arrest, when the Dulins made it clear they did not agree, Jimmy Dulin said prosecutors stopped talking to them.
He said they believe it was Gregory Fellerman who drove prosecutors to charge Perkins.
As an example, Dulin said after the crash, the pickup driven by Petry was taken to a law enforcement lot while Perkins’ car was towed to a regular lot.
“They don’t investigate Devin until the Fellermans start pressing for the investigation into Devin,” Jimmy Dulin said.
Tamara Dulin said “That’s what we suspect.”
Gregory Fellerman could not be reached for comment.
Both Jimmy and Tamara Dulin recalled Gregory Fellerman at the August hearing saying that both Petry’s and Perkins’ behavior was “reprehensible.” And they both recalled something else: Fellerman saying his daughter “really is probably the most innocent” in the incident.
“We were disgusted by that,” Jimmy Dulin said. “I don’t know what makes a deceased child more innocent than the other deceased child.”
Jimmy Dulin said he believes Ali Spice’s fame also drove the investigation.
“They used that to create this scenario that we have to get all the bad guys which created this attack on Devin,” Jimmy Dulin said.
TikTok star Ali Spice was killed in a car wreck near DeLand in December 2022, according to family and friends.
Jimmy Dulin: Prosecutor poses ‘what if’
Jimmy Dulin said he and his wife were driving on an interstate when they got a call from Assistant State Attorney Michael Willard, whom they said in explaining the decision to charge Perkins, told them that their daughter would still be alive if Perkins had not been speeding.
Jimmy Dulin said Willard explained that Perkins’ car would not have been at the spot of the crash were it not for his speeding.
“He said, ‘Well, they wouldn’t have been there,” James Dulin said. “And I said, so what does that do for the family that came up in the car right behind them?”
“Devin’s guilt isn’t based on me losing my daughter, our daughter, it’s the drunk driver going the wrong way. If it wasn’t Devin and those kids, the next car that came up, somebody else would have been hit and killed by that man,” Jimmy Dulin said.
Dulin said that a Toyota Prius had crashed into the wreckage, and the Prius was traveling 65 and braked to 59.
Dulin said that he responded to Willard by saying what if police had dispatched a car on the first call or the second call or the third call the crash might have been avoided.
Petry was driving the wrong way for at least 8 miles and three witnesses called 911 prior to the crash, according to records. The first caller had to pull off the road because of the pickup. The second caller flashed his lights to try to warn the pickup’s driver that he was going the wrong way but it did not work.
“These are all what ifs, too,” Dulin said. “How far do we go with the what ifs before we determine who’s guilty?”
The Dulins said that Willard started “lecturing” them, which they said Willard denied doing.
Jimmy Dulin said he responded: “You’re not going to convince me that another person needs to be wiped away from their family for speeding.”
Jimmy Dulin said Perkins’ prosecution doesn’t help them.
“It isn’t going to bring our child back by trying to take another person’s child from them. It’s just not. It’s not going to bring anything back. It’s not going to make it better. It actually makes it worse,” Jimmy Dulin said. “We know what our pain was, and the Perkins family is feeling that today.”
Dulins: Grown to know Devin Perkins
Jimmy Dulin said he had only met Devin Perkins once before the crash and his wife had never met him. Their daughter had been dating Perkins for only three months before she was killed. They said they have opposed Perkins being charged even before getting to know him.
“Now, we have grown to know him, and we have grown to like him and all of these other things, but our decision was long before we had built a relationship with him,” Jimmy Dulin said.
He said his wife had not met Perkins until he traveled to Indianapolis for Ali Spice’s memorial service.
“And he came in here a broken, bruised, angry man, and then when he left here, he felt that community that demonstrated compassion and love, and it changed him forever,” he said.
Dulins: Threatened with arrest
The Dulins said Willard threatened to throw them in jail after he learned they invited Perkins to visit them after the memorial service.
Jimmy Dulin said that when Perkins was in Indianapolis, they saw he was struggling, having lost his best friend and his girlfriend.
So, the Dulins invited him back with them to watch the Indianapolis 500. But first Perkins needed permission from the court to travel since he had been charged by then.
“And that frickin’ state’s attorney lectured us and told us he was going to throw us in jail for contempt, if we discussed the case with him,” Jimmy Dulin said referring to Willard.
Jimmy Dulin said they appeared via Zoom and were requested to raise their hands and swear.
“Listen, my wife had to hold me back. I wanted to come unglued, but it wasn’t going to do Devin any good,” Jimmy Dulin said. “What in the hell are they thinking telling us …
“We agreed, but we didn’t invite him here to discuss the case. We invited him here to help him heal,” Jimmy Dulin said.
The Dulins said Perkins visited Indianapolis.
“And it was a nice trip. And I will tell you, his mother called when he got back and said, ‘I got some of my son back.’ And she was so appreciative and so thankful that we were willing to take him in our home, entertain him and let him feel our love and our warmth,” Jimmy Dulin said, “and that we weren’t judging him and we weren’t blaming him.”
The Dulins also said that during the trial, Assistant State Attorney Daniel Megaro asked Judge Dawn Nichols to impose a gag order on them because they had done an interview. They said Nichols rejected the request, saying the Dulins have freedom of speech.
Tamara Dulin: Verdict showed ‘total disregard’ for Perkins’ life
Jimmy Dulin said when Perkins was offered the plea agreement of 10 to 20 years they were not consulted. Victims’ families are typically consulted on plea offers.
Jimmy Dulin said after the offer was made, Willard called via Zoom and revealed certain things that did not occur in open court. He said Willard told them that Gregory Fellerman was willing to accept home detention as a punishment for Perkins.
“We knew that there was some kind of side conversation without our knowledge,” Tamara Dulin said.
“So Fellerman knew that there was going to be a plea agreement, and then his opinion was somehow calculated into trying to negotiate this plea agreement, but absolutely nothing from the Moser family or the Dulin family,” Jimmy Dulin said. “And we’re on the Zoom in total confusion, because we don’t know anything.”
The Dulins were also critical of the quick decision by the jury, which took about 20 minutes to reach a verdict on the charges against Perkins.
“Total disregard for his life, just so disrespectful,” Tamara Dulin said of the fast verdict.
They said Perkins’ offense was speeding, not vehicular homicide.
“We have said all along, a car is going 100 miles an hour and a police officer pulls them over. What are you going to do to him? And whatever that is, do it,” Jimmy Dulin said. “If that’s take his license, if that’s make him do community service, if that’s in jail for 30 days, whatever that is, do it. … because there’s a drunk driver on the road that hit him is not a reason to take his life away. That crime of speeding, the punishment of what, potentially life in prison, they don’t go together. They just don’t.”
The Dulins said Perkins was already going to live with an entire life of pain.
Dulins: Felt used by prosecutor’s post
The Dulins also did not think much about the State Attorney’s social media post on the social platform X and Facebook after the jury’s conviction of Perkins.
In the post, 7th Circuit State Attorney R.J. Larizza is quoted as saying “My heart goes out to our victims and their families. A sad case reflecting the sad reality of reckless and irresponsible driving.”
The Dulins said they had never heard from Larizza.
“We don’t even know who R.J. Larizza is,” Jimmy Dulin said.
Jimmy Dulin said the post was “political.”
“So, he cares so much and his heart breaks so much that he’s never, we’ve never received a form letter from his office or anything to suggest anything of caring, or anything,” Jimmy Dulin said.
The Dulins said they felt “used.”
“If he wants to take claim and he wants to pat himself on the back, then just say we’re glad we did this for the Fellermans because you didn’t do it for the Dulins and you didn’t do it for the Mosers,” Jimmy Dulin said. “That makes me sick to my stomach, that they use us that way.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Ali Spice’s parents say prosecutors threatened them with arrest
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