By Andrew Hackmack
Santos was sentenced to 3 to 9 years by Judge William Donnino on Oct. 9.
Santos, 21, of Albertson, had pleaded guilty to 14 counts relating to the Nov. 11, 2007, crash that killed Virginia Casazza-Urgo and left another woman seriously injured. Prior to Santos's sentencing, several of the victims' family members read statements calling for a tougher penalty.
Thomas Casazza said that her mother has missed numerous moments in the lives of her grandchildren, including plays, concerts and sports games, events he said she regularly attended. He read statements from his two children about how much they miss their grandmother.
"We hope her sentence reflects the damage she has done to me and my family," Casazza said of Santos.
John Urgo spoke of how much his wife meant to everyone. "We were a very, very close family," Urgo said. "We were a team, and you took out our star player."
Santos was driving home from a night of drinking at a Bethpage bar when the accident occurred. She was headed west on Hempstead Turnpike when she ran a red light and slammed into a car being driven by Nancy Tumminello. Casazza-Urgo and her husband, John, her sister, Linda Chapman, and a friend, William Clarkin, were all passengers.
Assistant Nassau County District Attorney Matthew Lampert said that Santos had a blood alcohol content of .24, three times the legal limit. At that point, Lampert said, "Your actions are so dangerous, it's only a matter of time before you crash," adding that Santos was too intoxicated to see the red light. The crash occurred only about a half-mile from the bar she had just left.
Lampert said she spent a night drinking beer, wine and assorted liquor at Mr. Beery's, and was described by witnesses as "falling all over herself." She resisted numerous pleas not to drive home, and, ironically, plowed into a car in which Tumminello was a designated driver. The group had gone out that night for a birthday celebration. "Everybody in that car was in the wrong place at the wrong time," Lampert said. "Within seconds, that perfect night was shattered."
He called for Santos to receive 7 to 21 years in prison. "She was wrong on every decision she made that night," he said. "Justice demands that the defendant's punishment fit those crimes."
Chapman almost died several times as a result of her injuries, Lampert said, and is now confined to a wheelchair. Her husband, Edward, pointed a photo of Casazza-Urgo right at Santos. "She wasn't 62 years old, she was 62 years young," he said. "She was an amazing person."
Santos wept throughout the hearing, and Edward Chapman told her it was the first time he has seen her show remorse in the 11 months since the accident. "I just want our family to use today as a day to start healing," he said.
His daughter, Mary, recalled her horror the night of the accident. She was at college, and learned in a phone call that her mother and other relatives were in a car accident, and everyone was not OK. It was the longest four-hour drive home she ever had, she said.
Mary Chapman recounted how she spent countless hours sleeping on the floor of the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital, how her mother was not home for Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year's, and how her aunt is now gone. "My mother is still here with us today, thank God," she said, "but that doesn't mean she is the same person she used to be."
She called on Santos to stand up at the end of the hearing, look at all the people she has hurt and apologize. Santos did. "I'm very sorry for all the pain I've caused all of you," she said sobbing. "It was never my intent to hurt anyone."
In her brief statement to the court, Santos said she hopes that one day they will be able to forgive her. "I can't bring back your loved one, and I'm very sorry," she said.
Her attorney, Michael Berger, asked that Santos's sentence be consistent with what was promised when she pleaded guilty on Sept. 9, and also that the sentence be thoughtful. "This desire for extensive, severe punishment, I think is a wrong-headed approach," he said, adding that, in his opinion, 3 to 9 years was a tough sentence.
Berger read statements from several people who knew Santos, describing her as a caring, compassionate and church-going woman. She is the daughter of renowned jockey Jose Santos.
Donnino said Santos's actions were reckless, but unintentional. "The defendant has pled guilty and accepted responsibility," he said, adding that no sentence would be able to make up for the family's loss.
After the sentencing, Urgo expressed his dissatisfaction with the outcome. "It's not enough," he said. "Nothing's going to bring my wife back, but it's not enough."
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