the end of a trial this week<\/a> that mostly hinged on one question: Did Fogle plan to kill people standing near the loading dock at the back of Emperors Gentlemen\u2019s Club in the early morning hours of Aug. 13, 2024?<\/p>\nNeither the state nor defense disputed that the then-25-year-old North Carolina native had drunkenly rammed his company truck into the group. But if prosecutors could convince jurors that he did so on purpose, he faced a first-degree murder conviction and a mandatory life sentence.<\/p>\n
Fogle\u2019s defense attorney, Assistant Public Defender Maria Dunker, argued her client was too intoxicated to make the decision to kill someone. She told jurors an alternative account, in which Fogle used his semi to defend a friend in a skirmish with staff outside the club.<\/p>\n
Jurors took about two hours and 45 minutes to find Fogle guilty of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder.<\/p>\n
He also was convicted of vehicular homicide, DUI manslaughter and two counts of DUI with serious bodily injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis death was not just the loss of a man,\u201d said Jazlyne Soto, Giovanni Soto\u2019s daughter. \u201cIt was the loss of my father, my mentor, my best friend and the foundation of our family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Testimony this week from those injured in the crash, police investigators and associates of Fogle\u2019s painted a picture of the events that night.<\/p>\n
Anthony Matelsky, Fogle\u2019s longtime friend, testified that the two men had met for dinner and drinks after work that Monday.<\/p>\n
They then showered and headed to Emperors in Matelsky\u2019s pickup. The two can be seen in camera footage fighting briefly outside the club before seemingly making amends and heading inside.<\/p>\n
According to police records, Fogle was kicked out of the club after a dancer said he had tried to touch her \u201cin an inappropriate manner.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the course of the next hour, Fogle walked down East Adamo Drive, retrieved his company semitruck and parked at the south end of the Emperors lot.<\/p>\n
Assistant State Attorney Christina Berkowicz said Fogle, who was heavily intoxicated, made 53 phone calls and sent multiple texts between the time he left the club and the crash.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoodbye,\u201d he wrote in texts showed to the jury. \u201cI\u2019m going to prison for vehicular manslaughter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matelsky remained inside the club. The same dancer who accused Fogle of bad behavior said Matelsky also acted inappropriately with her, and he was escorted out of the club, according to the police report.<\/p>\n
Matelsky is seen in security footage fighting with staff and patrons near the loading dock at the club\u2019s rear entrance. After getting pushed to the ground, Matelsky got back on his feet and continued the skirmish.<\/p>\n
Fogle crashed the semiinto the group moments later, instantly killing Soto and injuring two employees.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/d68edfcb4cbe92d44a7a0eaffa77b446.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Footage shows a group of people pull Fogle out of the truck and strike him multiple times before police arrived.<\/p>\n
Dunker, Fogle\u2019s defense attorney, argued Wednesday that Fogle was defending his friend and that he didn\u2019t have an intent to kill anyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to apply logic to a drunk, drunk man,\u201d Dunker said.<\/p>\n
Berkowicz argued that Fogle had conscious intent when he got his truck and drove it to Emperors before the incident.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wanted to kill someone,\u201d Berkowicz said. \u201cAnd he wanted to use a vehicle to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Berkowicz rebuffed arguments from defense attorneys that Fogle may have tried to brake at the last second before the crash, saying it was only in self-interest.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t get brownie points for that,\u201d Berkowicz said.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/6649300bffa506c2be17405c5d0593a0.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
The guilty verdicts were read shortly after 7 p.m. Wednesday, after which Judge Lyann Goudie sentenced Fogleto life in prison without parole as required by state law.<\/p>\n
Afterward,Jazylne Soto spoke about her father\u2019s impact on her life.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe worked hard to make sure I had everything a child could need in life,\u201d Soto said. \u201cBut even more importantly, he gave me the kind of love and security that cannot be replaced.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Giovanni Soto\u2019s family members held each other and gasped with relief in a Tampa courtroom Wednesday night as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71413,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[41050,40849,41049,41048,41051,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-71412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-defense-attorney","tag-dylan-fogle","tag-giovanni-soto","tag-jared-fogle","tag-jazlyne-soto","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}