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Man Gets 18 Years To Life In L.I. Wedding Crash
MINEOLA, N.Y. -- A drunken driver responsible for the deaths of a limousine chauffeur and a 7-year-old flower girl heading home from a wedding was sentenced Wednesday to 18 years to life in prison for a rare murder conviction stemming from a driving while intoxicated case.
Martin Heidgen, 25, showed no reaction as he was sentenced to less than the 25 years to life maximum prison term. Neil Flynn, whose daughter died in the July 2005 crash, grimaced in disappointment at the sentence.
Prosecutors and family members had appealed for the maximum sentence.
The prison term was handed down after eight relatives of the two victims, 59-year-old Stanley Rabinowitz and 7-year-old Katie Flynn, stood at a podium to tell Heidgen what they had lost: A loving father and husband. A beloved daughter and granddaughter.
In a courtroom fraught with emotion, the victims' relatives testified about the impact of the senseless deaths on their lives.
"He deserved a chance to live until a ripe old age," said Joyce Rabinowitz, the driver's ex-wife. "With Stan gone, there is a void in my sons' lives."
Katie's grandfather punctuated his comments by denigrating Heidgen with a four-letter expletive.
In all, four members of the Flynn family and four from the Rabinowitz family stepped up to face Heidgen. All urged the maximum sentence on the defendant's two murder convictions, a rare verdict in a drunken-driving case. The hearing stretched for hours into the afternoon.
Heidgen had downed at least 14 drinks when his pickup truck, driving the wrong way on a Long Island parkway, struck the wedding limousine head-on.
Rabinowitz's sons Nolan and Keith testified, with the latter recalling how his father would often act as a designated driver.
"My father was the guy who would give someone who was drinking too much a ride home for free," said Keith Rabinowitz.
Denise Tangney, Katie's grandmother, who was herself seriously injured in the crash, spoke of the devastating death and its impact on her extended family.
"She is pure joy, and we are poorer for her absence," she said as relatives sobbed in the gallery.
Katie's mother, Jennifer Flynn, spoke of society's unwillingness to deal with drunken driving and suggested it should be treated as a public health scourge the way cancer or other diseases are viewed.
"With drunk driving, you can't just write a check and hope for the best," she said, adding that her little girl "was murdered needlessly."
Prosecutors, who showed jurors a video of the crash several times during the trial, contend Heidgen never tried to stop and turned slightly toward the limousine moments before impact. Arguing he was in "self-destruct mode," they convinced a jury that Heidgen's actions constituted a "depraved indifference to human life."
Defense attorney Stephen LaMagna didn't deny that his client should be held responsible, just not for murder.
"This is a kid who drank too much and got lost on the way home," the attorney pleaded with jurors during his closing argument.
He said he was confident the verdict would be overturned by an appeals court.
During the trial, LaMagna questioned the accuracy of blood tests that revealed his client had a blood-alcohol reading of 0.28 percent, three and half times the legal limit in New York. After the verdict, he claimed jurors discussed the case with their relatives, conferred secretly outside the jury room and weighed facts they should not have considered, including an erroneous report that Heidgen had a previous DWI conviction.
Acting state Supreme Court Justice Alan Honorof ruled after a day-long hearing earlier this month that he was "unconvinced" that any juror misconduct took place.
Honorof took the unusual step of sequestering the jury after its fourth day of deliberations when they reported they were unable to decide between a murder or a manslaughter conviction. Although LaMagna consented to the sequestration, several legal observers said he may be able to successfully argue the jurors were pressured into returning a murder conviction, which came back the following day.
Jury forewoman Loy Malcolm later said she regretted voting for a murder conviction and said she did so only after tiring of the tense bickering inside the jury room.
Also look at this video too.
Flashback: Wedding Crash Jurors See Graphic Video
I know it talks alot. I hope anyone could put down what it said.
The victims family were so mad that the judge didnt give the man 25 to life. They called judge a evil. I was watching the news this afternoon.
MINEOLA, N.Y. -- A drunken driver responsible for the deaths of a limousine chauffeur and a 7-year-old flower girl heading home from a wedding was sentenced Wednesday to 18 years to life in prison for a rare murder conviction stemming from a driving while intoxicated case.
Martin Heidgen, 25, showed no reaction as he was sentenced to less than the 25 years to life maximum prison term. Neil Flynn, whose daughter died in the July 2005 crash, grimaced in disappointment at the sentence.
Prosecutors and family members had appealed for the maximum sentence.
The prison term was handed down after eight relatives of the two victims, 59-year-old Stanley Rabinowitz and 7-year-old Katie Flynn, stood at a podium to tell Heidgen what they had lost: A loving father and husband. A beloved daughter and granddaughter.
In a courtroom fraught with emotion, the victims' relatives testified about the impact of the senseless deaths on their lives.
"He deserved a chance to live until a ripe old age," said Joyce Rabinowitz, the driver's ex-wife. "With Stan gone, there is a void in my sons' lives."
Katie's grandfather punctuated his comments by denigrating Heidgen with a four-letter expletive.
In all, four members of the Flynn family and four from the Rabinowitz family stepped up to face Heidgen. All urged the maximum sentence on the defendant's two murder convictions, a rare verdict in a drunken-driving case. The hearing stretched for hours into the afternoon.
Heidgen had downed at least 14 drinks when his pickup truck, driving the wrong way on a Long Island parkway, struck the wedding limousine head-on.
Rabinowitz's sons Nolan and Keith testified, with the latter recalling how his father would often act as a designated driver.
"My father was the guy who would give someone who was drinking too much a ride home for free," said Keith Rabinowitz.
Denise Tangney, Katie's grandmother, who was herself seriously injured in the crash, spoke of the devastating death and its impact on her extended family.
"She is pure joy, and we are poorer for her absence," she said as relatives sobbed in the gallery.
Katie's mother, Jennifer Flynn, spoke of society's unwillingness to deal with drunken driving and suggested it should be treated as a public health scourge the way cancer or other diseases are viewed.
"With drunk driving, you can't just write a check and hope for the best," she said, adding that her little girl "was murdered needlessly."
Prosecutors, who showed jurors a video of the crash several times during the trial, contend Heidgen never tried to stop and turned slightly toward the limousine moments before impact. Arguing he was in "self-destruct mode," they convinced a jury that Heidgen's actions constituted a "depraved indifference to human life."
Defense attorney Stephen LaMagna didn't deny that his client should be held responsible, just not for murder.
"This is a kid who drank too much and got lost on the way home," the attorney pleaded with jurors during his closing argument.
He said he was confident the verdict would be overturned by an appeals court.
During the trial, LaMagna questioned the accuracy of blood tests that revealed his client had a blood-alcohol reading of 0.28 percent, three and half times the legal limit in New York. After the verdict, he claimed jurors discussed the case with their relatives, conferred secretly outside the jury room and weighed facts they should not have considered, including an erroneous report that Heidgen had a previous DWI conviction.
Acting state Supreme Court Justice Alan Honorof ruled after a day-long hearing earlier this month that he was "unconvinced" that any juror misconduct took place.
Honorof took the unusual step of sequestering the jury after its fourth day of deliberations when they reported they were unable to decide between a murder or a manslaughter conviction. Although LaMagna consented to the sequestration, several legal observers said he may be able to successfully argue the jurors were pressured into returning a murder conviction, which came back the following day.
Jury forewoman Loy Malcolm later said she regretted voting for a murder conviction and said she did so only after tiring of the tense bickering inside the jury room.
Also look at this video too.
Flashback: Wedding Crash Jurors See Graphic Video
I know it talks alot. I hope anyone could put down what it said.
The victims family were so mad that the judge didnt give the man 25 to life. They called judge a evil. I was watching the news this afternoon.