Briski gets 11 years in Spring Hill teen overdose death case

James Richard Briski’s 11-year prison sentence settles only part of the Spring Hill overdose death case that has hovered over Hernando County for nearly three years. The plea in Hernando County Circuit Court resolved Briski’s exposure, but the prosecution tied to the death of a 17-year-old girl is not finished because a co-defendant remains headed toward trial.

Briski, 27, entered a negotiated plea on June 10 and was sentenced to state prison under the Florida Department of Corrections. The agreement reduced the risk of a broader trial, but it did not erase the facts that have made the case one of the county’s most closely watched criminal proceedings.

The case began after deputies responded to a Bancroft Avenue home in Spring Hill on Sept. 20, 2023, where the teen was found unresponsive and not breathing. Authorities said Joshua Ware arrived with the unconscious girl around midnight on Sept. 19-20, and that Ware and Briski carried her from a vehicle into the residence.

Sheriff Al Nienhuis later said the two men placed the girl in a bathtub filled with cold water, ice and frozen food in an attempt to lower her body temperature. Authorities said they left her alone for more than two hours while they did more drugs, then called 911 only after discovering she was no longer breathing. Additional reporting said Briski later said she had stopped breathing and that around 3:30 a.m. they called for help and got rid of the cocaine and frozen food.

Briski and Ware were both initially charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child. Briski also faced a cocaine possession charge. Ware was charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child, two counts of possession of a controlled substance and trafficking in fentanyl. Briski’s bond was set at $30,000, while Ware’s bond was set at $170,000.

The plea brings a measure of closure for the girl’s family and for residents following the case through the Fifth Judicial Circuit of Florida, but the legal record remains unfinished. Ware’s pending trial means the public has not yet seen every witness, exhibit and factual dispute tested in open court, and that next phase will still shape how Hernando County remembers what happened in that Spring Hill home.