New York Supreme Court rejects 'too intoxicated' murder defense

[hrmjustin]

AP MICHAEL VIRTANEN
ALBANY -- New York's highest court upheld the murder convictions Thursday of three drivers who caused deadly crashes, rejecting arguments they were too intoxicated to know the threat they posed.

The convictions of Martin Heidgen, Taliyah Taylor and Franklin McPherson hinged on prosecutors' contention they acted with "depraved indifference to human life" in crashes that shared common threads: driving too fast in the wrong lane while under the influence.

Heidgen drove his pickup truck for miles the wrong way on Long Island's Meadowbrook State Parkway in 2005 and hit a limousine, killing the driver, Stanley Rabinowitz, and 7-year-old passenger Katie Flynn and injuring five others.

McPherson hit a vehicle on another Long Island parkway in 2007, killing driver Leslie Burgess. Taylor sped naked down Staten Island's Forest Avenue in 2006 and killed pedestrian Larry Simon.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local/long_island&id=9334639

[bobclark86]

1. Good!

Had the court accepted the defense arguments, the state would have had to throw out almost 100 years of drunk driving convictions, as well as murder convictions, burglary convictions, and many other cases.

Fuck drunk drivers.

BTW, the supreme court isn't the highest court in New York... typical television reporters wouldn't know a court from a contact lens. Every county-level court is called a supreme court in New York. The writer is actually talking about the Court of Appeals.

[Politicalboi]

2. Great news

Being drunk is NO excuse. What the victims should do is try and sue big liquor like they did to big tobacco. Second hand booze kills!

[ABCin2014]

3. New York's highest court . . .

is the Court of Appeals. Supreme Court is the trial level state court. Each County has a Supreme Court. The intermediate level appellate court is the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.