By Brian Zanzonico
After 42-year-old Karen Fisher's arraignment on July 31, at which she was charged with 10 crimes, including manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter and drunk driving, Suffolk County D.A. Thomas Spota said investigators would examine evidence and determine whether more charges, including second-degree murder by depraved indifference, would be brought against her. On Oct. 5, Jeremy Scileppi, chief of major crimes for the D.A.'s office, informed State Supreme Court Justice Robert Doyle and Fisher's Huntington-based attorney, Michael Jannuzzi, that after a reconstruction of the accident and further examination of evidence, the D.A. would not pursue a murder charge, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years to life. The penalty for manslaughter is 5 to 15 years.
"The investigation, barring new evidence or other witnesses, did not produce new evidence that would compel another presentation to a grand jury," Spota said.
Costello, 79, was killed while walking near his sister's house in East Hampton just before 8 p.m. on July 18. Police said that Fisher crossed a yellow line and veered into oncoming traffic, struck Costello, and fled. She was driving with a suspended license, stemming from an April DWI arrest.
Robert Clifford, a D.A.'s office spokesman, said that after examination of the evidence - accident reconstruction data, interviews of witnesses, statements given at the scene, crime lab results, inspections of the vehicles involved, road conditions, history of other accidents where this one occurred - there was no indication that Fisher acted with depraved indifference to life.
"In determining whether a person's conduct evinced a depraved indifference to human life, a jury would have to decide whether the circumstances surrounding his or her reckless conduct, when objectively viewed, made it so uncaring, so callous, so dangerous and so inhuman as to demonstrate an attitude of total and utter disregard for the life of the person or persons endangered," Clifford said.
Though drunk driving victim advocate groups and others expressed outrage at Spota's decision, those who knew Costello described him as a peaceful, forgiving man and said the D.A.'s choice is one Costello would be happy with. "It would be keeping with Monsignor Costello's attitude of helping people, and at the same time, he would have liked to see her in a treatment program," said the Rev. Thomas Groenewold, pastor of St. Catherine of Sienna Church.
Bill Rottkamp, a 50-year parishioner of St. Catherine's, who knew Costello when he was a young priest and later a respected pastor, agreed. "Knowing him, he was a gentle man and a good man, he'd probably go along with it," Rottkamp said of the D.A.'s decision. "The pope [John Paul II] forgave the man who shot him, and I think Monsignor Costello would be the same way."
The Rev. Paul Rahilly, pastor of St. Joachim parish in Cedarhurst and a longtime friend of Costello's, said the murder charge would be the last thing Costello would want. "He would want her to get help more than to be punished," said Rahilly, who delivered Costello's eulogy at St. Anne's Church in Garden City. "He would find consolation in that."
Rottkamp said that based on his own Catholic beliefs, he also supports Spota's decision. "As a good Christian, I've got to go along with it," he said. "She did something horrible and she'll live with it the rest of her life."
Jannuzzi commended Spota's decision, saying the incident lacked the "criminality"to warrant a murder charge. "The D.A. should be applauded," Jannuzzi said. "He has an obligation to the people he serves to look at all the possible charges - and weed out charges. And that's what he did."
The D.A.'s announcement came the same day that a Valley Stream man, Martin Heidgen, was found guilty of second-degree murder for driving drunk the wrong way on the Meadowbrook parkway in July 2005 and killing a limousine driver and a 7-year-old who was a passenger in the limousine.
"I'm disappointed they didn't charge [Fisher] with murder," said Marge Lee, founder and president of the Franklin Square-based DWI victim advocacy group DEDICATEDD (Drive Educated Drive Informed Commit And Totally End Drunk Driving), who was injured in a 1990 crash in which her eldest son was killed and her two other children, then ages 3 and 5, were seriously hurt. "What district attorneys have to do is look at the circumstances leading up to the crash, not after they flee."
Fisher had been charged with driving while intoxicated twice prior to allegedly killing Costello. In April, she was charged with endangering the welfare of a child because her two children were with her when she was arrested, police said. "What mother jeopardizes the safety of her children?" Lee said. "If you don't care about you own kids, you don't care about anyone else on the road."
Costello came to St. Catherine of Sienna from St. Mary's in Manhasset in 1964, at age 37. When the pastor at the time, the Rev. Anthony Holzheimer, died in October 1968, Costello was appointed acting administrator until the Rev. Matthew Houlihan was named pastor in early 1969. Costello left St. Catherine's to become pastor of Cure of Ars Church in Merrick in 1971, and later served as pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle and Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Point Lookout. He returned to St. Catherine's as pastor in 1995, where he remained until his retirement in 1998.
After he retired, Costello lived at Saint Anne's Church, where he was active in the ministry, celebrating the sacraments and offering his services to parishioners. He also served in several leadership roles in the diocese, including the Priest Senate, the Board of Consultors and the Priest Personnel Board, and was a dean for several terms. He also served on the Board of Catholic Charities and the Board of Little Flower Children's Services in Wading River.
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