JACKSONVILLE, FLa. – This fall, Trenton Stewart would’ve been a senior.
Game days. Practice under the lights. His family in the stands, cheering him on.
Recommended Videos
Instead, they’re visiting his gravesite.
Trenton was just 18 years old when a repeat drunk driver killed him in 2023, during his freshman year of college.
Now, his mother’s grief has turned into purpose. And her son’s name is now law.
Trenton’s Law, which went into effect across Florida on Wednesday, increases the maximum prison sentence for repeat DUI offenders from 15 to 30 years.
It also makes it a criminal offense to refuse a breathalyzer or blood test.
MORE: How ‘Trenton’s Law’ aims to prevent tragedies caused by driving, boating under the influence
“Makes me take a deep breath a little bit, knowing that no other family—with this kind of scenario, where you do lose a loved one through a repeat offender of vehicular homicide or DUI manslaughter—will have to face the max sentencing of 15 years,” said Mandi Stewart, Trenton’s mom. “That gives us some form of peace.”
But peace didn’t come easily. It took months of lobbying, reliving the most painful moments of her life, and fighting what she saw as a loophole in Florida law.
At the heart of it all was unimaginable loss.
“Losing a child—he was my only child—is the harshest punishment in the entire universe, and it’s exhausting,” Mandi said.
Still, she kept pushing forward—fueled by a promise and the echo of her son’s words.
She found strength in a phrase Trenton used to tell her when they bantered—words that would take on a deeper meaning after his death.
“‘Quitting is not an option.’ Well, I didn’t realize a year before that, on Twitter, he actually put ‘quitting is not an option,’” Mandi said. “I never really realized the significance of it—and that he actually had used that phrase himself, completely unknowingly. That was a sign to me, as a mama, that he’s shining down on me and that we are fulfilling what he would want from us.”
Trenton’s Law passed unanimously earlier this year, with bipartisan support. Lawmakers say the bill is designed to deter repeat offenders and give prosecutors stronger tools in DUI cases that turn deadly.
Mandi told News4JAX reporter Briana Brownlee that football season feels very different for her family now.
This time of year once marked the beginning of the holidays—Friday night lights, travel plans, and family celebrations.
Now, they spend it fighting to make sure no other family experiences the kind of pain they live with every day.