Man faces more charges in fatal DWI case

Two additional charges have been filed against James Farr, the Garden City man accused of driving drunk and striking and killing two East Meadow brothers on Hempstead Turnpike in August, officials announced Monday.

Prosecutors said that a grand jury had added second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges to the indictment against Farr.

The victims, Joseph and Thomas Occhiogrosso, were hit as they crossed Hempstead Turnpike near the intersection of Conti Square Boulevard at about 4:15 a.m. on Aug. 22.

The additional charges do not change the maximum possible sentence of 15 years, prosecutors said, but they believe those charges could work to their advantage. “The manslaughter charge relates to the defendant’s extreme recklessness and will give the jury a law to appropriately apply to this specific fact pattern,” said Eric Phillips, a spokesman for the Nassau County district attorney’s office. “We believe the additional charge strengthens the case.”

Farr, who pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in August, was initially charged by police with two counts of vehicular manslaughter and one count of DWI. The new charges were handed up by a second grand jury, which Farr’s attorney, Gregory Grizopoulos, said is unusual.

“What that tells me is when you go through a second grand jury presentation after four months of investigation, when the result is more of the same charges, that furthers the belief I have that the cause of this accident is questionable and uncertain,” Grizopoulos said.

He called the incident an “unavoidable accident,” considering the circumstances. “When you have two pedestrians crossing a major roadway like Hempstead Turnpike in the middle of the night without a crosswalk, it’s dangerous as it is,” he said. “Then enter into the equation that the two pedestrians were intoxicated.”