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Kayla Joiner, 16, Palmetto Ridge High School student killed in a car crash Oct. 21, 2007.

Chelsea Seymour of Palmetto Ridge High School pled in the fatal car crash of Kayla Joiner.

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NAPLES — They were best friends, hanging out and working at a Bob Evans restaurant together. But just three months into their junior year at Palmetto Ridge High School, 16-year-old Kayla Joiner was dead.

On Monday, her best friend, 17-year-old Chelsea Rose Seymour, pleaded no contest to vehicular homicide involving a rollover crash in October, just yards away from Kayla’s home on Eighth Street Northeast in Golden Gate Estates.

Chelsea pleaded to a second-degree felony and was adjudicated guilty as a juvenile, meaning she won’t be a convicted felon with a criminal record. Although she initially blamed herself for speeding and losing control, causing the car to roll over 3 1/2 times, Chelsea later placed some of the blame on her dead friend.

Two teen passengers had already told investigators Kayla had pulled the steering wheel just before they crashed. And that’s what led the prosecution and defense to negotiate a plea bargain.

“(Seymour) was wiggling the steering wheel in an effort to scare the subjects in the backseat and Ms. Joiner pulled the wheel,” Assistant State Prosecutor Mike Provost told Collier Circuit Judge Elizabeth Krier. “Ms. Seymour lost control and the car overturned.”

Defense attorney Jerry Berry told the judge the prosecution might not have been able to prove its case before a jury. However, he said: “Rather than taking her chances with the system, Ms. Seymour wanted to take a plea today.”

When Provost questioned her, she agreed the plea was in her best interests. Then he outlined the terms of the plea bargain, prompting Kayla’s mother, Tracey, to burst into tears, while her ex-husband and Kayla’s father, Jody, who sat next to her, clenched his lips, holding back his emotions. Chelsea would serve three years of probation, 30 hours of community service yearly, and her license will be revoked for three years. Although she’ll be supervised by juvenile justice probation officers, there will be no curfew.

Provost told the judge the Joiners did not want to give a statement in court. But there was one request: Restitution, $5,500 for their daughter’s funeral expenses.

Chelsea stood before the judge, flanked by Berry and her mother, Denise Gonzalez. Throughout, Chelsea showed no emotion, then walked to a bailiff who fingerprinted her before she headed to the probation office.

The crash occurred at 11:51 p.m. Oct. 21 as Chelsea, 16, was driving Kayla home, along with two other teens, Nicole Hoffman, 14, and Christy Lyons, 16. They’d spent the night bowling at Woodside Lanes on Radio Road in East Naples, and then headed to the Taco Bell drive-thru on Davis Boulevard.

Chelsea then drove Kayla home, driving north on Collier Boulevard, east on Immokalee Road and right onto Randal Boulevard. As she turned right onto Eighth Street Northeast, the car’s black box shows, she accelerated toward Kayla’s house at the end of the street, driving 72.5 mph in a 35-mph zone, according to Hebebrand.

She initially told Hebebrand she was speeding, lost control and the car headed off the right side of the road, so she pulled the steering wheel and overcompensated. The 1998 Pontiac Sunfire rolled over 3 1/2 times into an embankment and Kayla, who wasn’t wearing a seat belt, was ejected and died immediately. Christy called 911, then handed it to Chelsea, who reported the crash to a dispatcher. The three were treated at a hospital for minor injuries.

Afterward, Nicole and Christy told investigators they thought Chelsea pulled the steering wheel just before the crash.

Months later, on April 30, Chelsea was charged, but not arrested, and hired Berry.

“In her initial statement, Chelsea did not put any of the blame on Kayla because she wanted to protect her friend,” Berry said after sentencing. “But remember, there were two eyewitnesses in the backseat that supported and still support the facts that Mr. Provost said in court.”

“This was a tragedy,” Berry said. “It’s horrible that any family should have to go through this, the death of a child. Kayla and Chelsea were best friends. It’s a horribly tragic event. Chelsea feels horrible that it happened.”

The hearing was delayed for about 1 1/2 hours by other cases, but before court began, Jody Joiner shocked everyone by walking into the courtroom and hugging Chelsea. Afterward, the Joiners said what they really wanted was to see remorse or hear an apology.

“We did not want her in jail, but we were at least expecting remorse,” Jody Joiner said, adding that they haven’t heard from her, except when she sent them Angel Bears at Christmas with a note about their loss. “They were best friends. You would think someone coming to court would be remorseful.”

Tracey Joiner said her daughter feared being stuck in a car if it went into a canal because it happened to a friend. But her daughter always wore her seat belt. Jody Joiner’s wife, Susan, said she believes Kayla had her seat belt on, but she had a habit of taking it off as she neared her house. She left behind a step-brother, Logan, 3 and a stepsister, Jordan, 1, who were in court.

The Joiners set up a foundation, Buckle Up for Kayla, and a Web site, Buckleup4Kayla.org, and hope to distribute the Life Hammer, a double-tipped tool that allows drivers trapped inside cars to break a window and cut the seat belt.

“The moral is kids should wear a seat belt and obey the laws,” Tracey Joiner said. “The car isn’t a toy. I really hope Chelsea obeys the law and does well on probation.”