DWI bill closer to law Act is response to Long Island wedding crash BY MICHAEL GORMLEY The Associated Press
A drunken driver convicted in a fatal accident could face 25 years to life in prison in New York under a legislative agreement announced Tuesday. The deal was struck swiftly after an emotional plea by a mother who recounted holding her dead daughter following a crash after a family wedding. The bill, inspired by the crash that drew national attention and sent Long Island into for 7-year-old Katie Flynn, moved unusually fast by Albany’s standards. It was spurred along two weeks ago when Katie’s mother recounted at a Senate news conference how she held her daughter’s decapitated head immediately after the wreck that also killed the limousine driver. “I don’t understand why I am living this life,” Jennifer Flynn told lawmakers then, nearly two years after the accident. “You could be me.” “I’m glad we got it done,” said Sen. Charles Fuschillo, a Long Island Republican and the bill’s initial sponsor. “This gives prosecutors the tools they need.” Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said Tuesday his Democrat-led house would also pass the bill. The bill would create the crime of aggravated vehicular homicide, a Class B felony, punishable by up to 25 years to life in prison. The crime could be charged against someone convicted after a fatal crash who also had a bloodalcohol level more than 0.18 or higher (the state limit is 0.0; if the driver had a DWI conviction in the previous 10 years; if the crash killed more than one person; if the fatal crash also severely injured others; or if the driver had a suspended or revoked license. The bill would also create the crime of aggravated vehicular assault, a Class C felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. It would apply to a driver in a crash that resulted in serious injury. “I will continue to work with legislative members from both houses and both parties to pass legislation that fights this epidemic,” said Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, whose office prosecuted the case. The driver convicted in the Flynn crash, 25-year-old Martin Heidgen, was convicted of two counts of murder and sentenced to 18 years to life in prison. Getting a murder conviction in a fatal DWI crash is rare and difficult for prosecutors to prove. Prosecutors and the family asked for the maximum of 25 years to life. Heidgen drove the wrong way for miles on a parkway and ignored drivers who had to swerve out of the way to avoid being hit by his pickup truck. His lawyer plans to appeal. The agreement is one of the few larger measures that has broken through these last days of the legislative session scheduled to end Thursday. Even some measures pushed by parents of child victims have had to lobby Albany for months and years to prompt an agreement between the Republican-led Senate and Democrat-led Assembly. Gov. Eliot Spitzer, a former prosecutor, will sign the bill, said Spitzer spokesman Darren Dopp.
; if the driver had a DWI conviction in the previous 10 years; if the crash killed more than one person; if the fatal crash also severely injured others; or if the driver had a suspended or revoked license. 
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