Tammy “Sunny” Sytch is trying to blow up the conviction that put her behind bars, but that move could seriously backfire. The WWE Hall of Famer has now been warned that challenging her case could leave her facing even more prison time.
According to PWInsider, Sytch filed a motion earlier this month seeking to have her conviction thrown out over what she claims was ineffective assistance from her defense attorney. She wants the court to take another look at the circumstances surrounding the March 2022 crash that killed 75-year-old Julian Lasseter.
One of Sytch’s biggest arguments is that her defense didn’t properly investigate whether the crash itself legally caused Lasseter’s death. She pointed to medical information obtained through civil discovery and argued that his pre-existing health problems and other factors should have been investigated before she entered her plea.
Sytch claims those records showed Lasseter had a history that included coronary artery disease and other serious medical conditions. She also pointed to toxicology findings and injuries she says were consistent with CPR being performed at the scene.
She also raised another pretty major issue involving the prosecution. Sytch claims her defense failed to discover that lead Assistant State Attorney Ashley Terwilliger was married to physician Zachary Terwilliger, who declared Lasseter’s death, and argued that her attorney should have investigated whether that relationship created a potential conflict.
Sytch ultimately asked the court for an evidentiary hearing, new counsel if necessary and additional discovery. More importantly, she wants her current judgment and sentence vacated, with the possibility of getting a new trial or some other form of post-conviction relief.
There’s just one problem: her first attempt already got shot down. On October 21, Volusia County Circuit Court Judge Christian Miller dismissed Sytch’s motion as “facially insufficient.” The problem wasn’t necessarily the substance of all her claims — the filing failed to satisfy Florida’s procedural requirements, including having the necessary sworn statements concerning the truth of the motion and her ability to understand English.
And that came with one hell of a warning. Miller told Sytch that if she eventually succeeds in getting her negotiated plea tossed out, prosecutors would no longer be bound by that deal.
That means charges that were previously dropped could potentially come back into play. If Sytch went to trial again and was convicted on all of the original charges, the court noted she could face as much as 26 years behind bars — longer than the 17 years and six months she originally received.
So Sytch now has a pretty serious decision to make. She can continue fighting the dismissal and potentially reopen the case, or she can abandon the claims and avoid putting her existing sentence at risk.
That’s a pretty wild gamble considering Sytch is already years into her sentence. Getting the conviction overturned would obviously be a massive win for her, but reopening the door also means prosecutors could potentially come back looking for the punishment they originally wanted.
Do you think Tammy Sytch should keep fighting her conviction despite the possibility of ending up with an even longer sentence? Let us know what you think in the comments.
