New trial for Heidgen?

Four years after his 2006 murder conviction for driving drunk and killing two people, Martin Heidgen and his attorney, Jill Harrington, have filed an appeal, focusing on what they describe as mishandling of blood evidence by police and questioning the validity of the “depraved indifference” murder charge.

“We are confident that the conviction will be reversed,” Harrington said. “I truly believe that Marty was convicted of the wrong crime.”

Heidgen, of Valley Stream, was sentenced to 18 years to life in February 2007, 19 months after he slammed his Chevrolet pickup truck into a limousine taking members of the Flynn and Tangney families back to Long Beach after a wedding. Heidgen had driven for more than two miles on the wrong side of the Meadowbrook Parkway with a blood alcohol level of .28, more than three times the legal limit. Seven-year-old Katie Flynn of Long Beach and the limousine’s driver, Stanley Rabinowitz, 59, of Farmingdale, were killed in the head-on crash, and several other passengers, including Katie’s sister, parents and grandparents, were severely injured.

“His actions made the deaths of Katie Flynn and Stanley Rabinowitz inevitable,” Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, who has fought to severely penalize people who drive drunk, said of Heidgen. “It was as inevitable as taking a gun and firing it at an individual who is standing five feet from me.”

Prosecutors pressed for a murder conviction, and a jury found Heidgen guilty of two counts of second-degree murder, among other charges. “We are confident in the integrity of the jury’s verdict and the judge’s trial decisions,” said Carole Trottere, a spokeswoman for Rice.

Katie Flynn’s father, Neil Flynn, said that the jury made the right decision, and it should be upheld. “We miss our daughter just as much as we did the first day,” Flynn said. “Heidgen is where he belongs and should not be let out.”