Man imprisoned for hit-and-run death of Adam King requests sentence to be vacated

A man sentenced after pleading no contest in 2018 for a hit-and-run crash that killed 18-year-old Adam King is asking to be resentenced.

Adam Costello moved to vacate the incarceration portion of his sentence. He says his plea was involuntary because trial counsel provided ineffective assistance.

According to court documents, Costello claims his counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to review and correct the criminal punishment code scoresheet.

He claims it improperly included 120 points for victim injury, resulting in the lowest permissible sentence of 126.3 months.

The correct lowest permissible sentence would have been 36.3 months in jail had the addition points not been improperly included

In addition to being charged with leaving the scene of the June 19, 2016, traffic crash involving death — a first-degree felony. He was also charged with tampering with evidence.

King was riding his motorcycle when he was struck and killed on Colonial Boulevard in Fort Myers. Costello turned over his truck to police shortly after the crash when authorities determined it was involved, his attorney then said.

However, Costello maintained that he wasn’t behind the wheel when the incident occurred.

Costello was sentenced on March 19, 2018, the same day as his plea proceeding.

He was sentenced to 10 years and six months on the charge of leaving the scene, with a minimum mandatory term of 4 years; and five years on tampering with evidence with sentences to run concurrently.

We spoke to Adam King’s mother after learning about Costello’s hope to have his sentence tossed out.

“I was actually starting to heal a little bit,” said Tracy Miller, King’s mother. “The storm has come back.”

Miller is not happy to hear about Costello’s decision.

“I just can’t believe that he still cannot take responsibility,” Miller said.

Costello believes his attorney did not provide him with correct information, but attorney Pamella Seay, a professor of legal studies at Florida Gulf Coast University, says the advice Costello’s attorney provided was correct, and Costello likely doesn’t have a case.

“I don’t know that he would like the consequences of that because if I am a prosecutor, I would not offer him another deal,” Seay said. “I would not offer him less than what he was going to get.”

Now, King’s mother is just ready for another fight for justice for her son.

“We are here to fight for Adam’s rights because he can’t speak for himself anymore because he’s dead, and it’s not fair that Costello can be asking to get out of prison,” Miller said.

The state filed a response to Costello’s motion, saying he should be denied his request.

The state also advised that if Costello’s plea is withdrawn, he will not get another plea and he could get an even longer prison sentence.