By Mike Schnitzel
, to be served concurrently, on Wednesday for causing the deaths of 7-year-old Katie Flynn of Lido Beach and Stanley Rabinowitz, 59, of Farmingdale while driving drunk two summers ago.
Heidgen showed little emotion as Judge Alan L. Honorof read the verdict in front of a packed courtroom in New York State Supreme Court in Mineola.
Flynn¹s and Rabinowitz¹s relatives wept as the judge read the verdict, which will keep Heidgen behind bars for the foreseeable future. He will be eligible for parole after 12 years.
It was not long enough for Flynn¹s father, Neil, who was one of several people who read victim impact statements. ³What a colossal waste of time,² he told the media swarm outside the courtroom. ³Our family stayed home and agonized over these statements, and they were basically worthless.²
Flynn then called Judge Honorof a ³gutless coward.²
Before pronouncing the sentence, Honorof said he was moved by the family¹s statements, but not by the prosecution¹s claim that it was willful murder.
Heidgen, addressing the court for the first time, choked up while apologizing. ³There is really no easy way to begin this,² he said. ³I¹ve wanted to take responsibility for this from the moment it happened ... First and foremost, I am very sorry every minute, every hour, every day for the deaths of Katie Flynn and Stanley Rabinowitz. Your anger towards me is justified and understandable. I did not mean or intend for this to happen. I was just trying to go home.²
Neil Flynn gasped when he heard that.
"My family has suffered irreparable damage from Mr. Heidgen," Christopher Tangney, Katie's grandfather, told the court. He and his wife, Denise, were passengers, along with Katie and her parents, Jennifer and Neil Flynn, in a limousine driven by Rabinowitz that was struck head-on by Heidgen¹s pickup truck on the Meadowbook Parkway early on the morning of July 2, 2005. Christopher began describing the injuries his family members suffered, and then he returned to the subject of Heidgen. "He's like Charles Manson," Tangney said. "He claims to be a victim. We are the victims."
Since the crash, Denise Tangney, who is now a Long Beach city councilwoman, has appeared with Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice at several forums pushing for stronger DWI laws. Her granddaughter's story has already touched lives, she said. "Consider why there is so much media here today," Tangney told the judge. "[Katie] touched so many people, from the U.S. and overseas."
Tangney was followed by her daughter, Jennifer Flynn, Katie's mother. "I loathe standing here before you today, summing the crash up in a statement," Flynn said. "It can't be done. Drunk driving exists because we allow it to. ... Katie was murdered by a deliberate act. Her head was severed from her body, and her body was pinned to Mr. Rabinowitz's. If this story was not constantly watered down, maybe people could take it seriously.
"I should not be dismissed as a grieving mother," she added. "I am half the woman I was."
Katie's father, Neil Flynn, was more blunt. Turning to Heidgen, he said, "You and I aren't through. No one gives a damn if you're sorry. What you did can never be overcome."
Heidgen, who lived in Valley Stream at the time of the crash, was convicted in October of second-degree murder in the deaths of Flynn and Rabinowitz. His sentencing came after Honorof denied a motion filed by defense attorney Stephen LaMagna to overturn the murder conviction because of what LaMagna described as jury misconduct. Jury forewoman Loy Malcolm testified at a Feb. 13 hearing on Heidgen's behalf, saying that her decision to convict him of murder had been biased by evidence that had not been introduced in court, and that she regretted the verdict.
Heidgen's conviction concluded a five-week trial that saw several bizarre twists and turns, including the discovery of foreign DNA on Heidgen when officials extracted a sample using a cheek swab, and the sequestration of the jury four days into its deliberations, the latter a move legal experts called uncommon but not without precedent.
At a meeting of the Long Beach Lawyers Association just days after Heidgen was convicted, Rice said the verdict should be considered a rare exception to legal precedent, but added that she would lobby the state Legislature to broaden drunk driving law to make murder convictions easier to pursue. "For most DWI homicides, you're talking about probation," Rice said. "Four years in prison. Six years. It's an outrage."
Heidgen's trial was shocking both for the evidence presented and for the side issues raised by the defense. After LaMagna tried to get his client's blood samples thrown out of court -- and nearly succeeded when it was revealed that the samples had been mislabeled ‹ Heidgen apparently tried to swap his DNA with that of a fellow inmate by way of a surreptitious exchange of body fluids.
Doug Miller and Daniel Israeli contributed to this story. Comments about it? DMiller@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.
