Statement Of State Senator Charles Fuschillo On Martin Heidgen Sentencing

"I have been saying for years that when an individual gets behind the wheel of a car drunk, that car becomes a weapon. If they kill somebody it’s murder. Heidgen’s punishment for the murder of Katie Flynn and Stanley Rabinowitz should have been the maximum 25 years to life in prison.

Video of the crash proved that Heidgen intentionally plowed his pickup truck head-on into the limousine on July 2, 2005, without concern for the consequences.

If Heidgen serves only 18 years in prison, he will be out on the streets when he is 43 years old and will be able to live a full life. The Flynn and Rabinowitz families however, will never be able to return to any sense of normalcy.

I will continue to fight for new laws that will keep drunk drivers off our streets and provide the appropriate punishment for alcohol related crashes."

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Senator Charles Fuschillo (8th Senate District) is the author of some of the most sweeping drunk driving reforms of the last quarter century in New York State. He wrote the law that lowered New York State's legal blood alcohol content (BAC) level from .10 to .08. Senator Fuschillo also authored a new law enacted in 2006 that increased penalties for repeat offenders, drunk drivers who kill, drive with an elevated BAC, or drive with a suspended or revoked license. The law also requires mandatory screening and/or treatment for drunk drivers. The 2006 law is one of the most comprehensive reforms in the nation.

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