Thread: NY-Drunk driver gets maximum sentence in,mother/daughter fat

Drunk driver gets maximum sentence in Brewster mother/daughter fatal
By Terence Corcoran • tcorcora@lohud.com • January 13, 2010

Comments (100) Recommend 8

CARMEL — An illegal immigrant who had no license and a blood-alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit when he plowed into and killed a Southeast mother and daughter received the maximum sentence of 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison today.




Conses Garcia-Zacarias, 35, who has been held at the Putnam County jail since the June 8 fatalities, pleaded guilty in November to two counts of vehicular homicide in the deaths of Lori Donohue, 37, and her 8-year-old daughter, Kayla. The second-grader and her mother were walking out of the little girl's dance class at Seven Stars School of Performing Arts in Brewster when Garcia-Zacarias mowed them down with a pickup truck.


The act instantly took away half of the Donohue family, leaving Robert Donohue and his 5-year-old son, Christopher, grieving for the wife and mother, sister and daughter they lost.


"Explaining to my 5-year-old son that he can never hug or kiss his mother and sister was the most difficult thing I've ever done," Donohue told the court today.


Friends and family members filled four of the six rows in the Putnam County Courthouse. Lori Donohue's father, John Luhrs, 70, of Bethel, Conn. placed photos of his daughter and granddaughter on the prosecutor's table, looked up at Putnam County Court Judge James Rooney before sitting down and saying, "Your honor: A parent's worse nightmare."
Lori Donohue grew up in Yonkers and rose through the ranks at Dorian Drake International Inc. in Harrison where she worked as a sales manager. Kayla attended John F. Kennedy Elementary School, played softball and swam. She was a Girl Scout and had been collecting cookies to send to the troops in Iraq when she was killed.


Kayla Donohue was pronounced dead at the scene while Lori Donohue was flown to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla where she died.


Their deaths saddened and outraged the community and refocused an ongoing debate about illegal immigration, drinking and driving and the hiring of undocumented workers. Garcia-Zacarias worked on horse farms in Florida and New York and the F-350 Ford pickup truck he was driving that night was registered to Valerie Renihan, a horse trainer who also leased the house on Tonetta Lake Road in Southeast where Garcia-Zacarias and several other men were living.




On June 8, police say Garcia-Zacarias sped down the wrong side of Brewster's Main Street around 6:30 p.m. and barrelled through a T-shaped intersection at routes 6 and 22. The truck crossed the narrow parking area dividing the road from the dance school building and ran over Lori and Kayla Donohue as other horrified parents, children and instructors stood nearby.



Through an interpreter, Garcia-Zacarias expressed remorse today and talked about how his actions have hurt his own family.



"I apologize to the family and I ask forgiveness. It was not my intention and it's something that could happen to any of us," he said. "I ask them to forgive me. I have my two daughters over there who are also suffering because of this."



Garcia-Zacarias will serve his sentences on the two counts of vehicular homicide concurrently, or at the same time, as stipulated by the law, Rooney said today.



"Do not look to me for forgiveness ," Rooney told him in imposing the maximum. "God may grant you mercy, Mr. Zacarias, but this court will not."



Garcia-Zacarias faces deportation to his native Guatemala after serving his time in prison.





http://www.lohud.com/article/20100113/N ... hter-fatal

The idiot had the nerve to say..

"It was not my intention and it's something that could happen to any of us," he said.


No, you jackass, it's NOT something that could happen to ANY of us because most of US don't drink and drive!!!

"Most of us" don't break into a country illegally!!

Outrageous!!!

Their deaths saddened and outraged the community and refocused an ongoing debate about illegal immigration, drinking and driving and the hiring of undocumented workers. Garcia-Zacarias worked on horse farms in Florida and New York and the F-350 Ford pickup truck he was driving that night was registered to Valerie Renihan, a horse trainer who also leased the house on Tonetta Lake Road in Southeast where Garcia-Zacarias and several other men were living.

I hope to heaven they sue this woman for everything she owns!

Aww his actions have hurt his own family? Who cares?!?! He obviously didn't think of them when he killed someone elses' children, did he? He's stole their lives, yet he lives. He'll see his kids back in Guatamala soon enough, hopefully not for at least 25 years. The Donohue's will never see mom & daughter again.

what i find disgusting is that he gets to serve the jail time for both murders AT THE SAME TIME. why not serve them seperate because given time off for good behavior, he might serve 1/3 of the terms

"I apologize to the family and I ask forgiveness. It was not my intention and it's something that could happen to any of us," he said. "I ask them to forgive me. I have my two daughters over there who are also suffering because of this."

NO it couldnt "happen to any of us". This accident happened because you were in the country ILLEGALLY driving on our roads drunk. How can a maximum sentence be 8 1/2 to 25 years? I hope he serves at least 25.

January 14, 2010
Undocumented immigrant Guilty in New York DWI Homicide

A New York man who pleaded guilty of homicide in the deaths of a month and daughter in a DWI accident was not legally in the country to begin with.

The man, Conses Garcia Zacarias, will now spend the next 8 years and 4 months in prison. He was sentenced after pleading guilty to the homicide of 37-year-old Lori Donohue and her 8-year-old daughter Kayla in June. At that time, 35-year-old Garcia Zacarias committed several traffic violations, driving through an intersection and parking area, before hitting the mother and daughter.

Reports documented Garcia Zacarias's BAC at twice the legal limit. Once he serves his time, the man will likely be deported back to his home country of Guatemala. Garcia Zacarias was here illegally working as a farmhand, prompting debate over how the incident should be handled.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) evaluates histories of criminal activity before allowing a person to immigrate into the US. A DUI accident of any type may be considered a crime involving moral turpitue (CIMT) - meaning violent crime - and prevent a person from achieving status as a citizen or being permitted to live in the US. Any DUI arrest can show a lack of good moral character during the citizenship process.

Most immigrants seeking citizenship status with a DUI on record will be ordered to go through a rehabilitation period prior to being considered for citizenship. However, a violent crime will almost always be grounds for inadmissibility to the US or for deportation of individuals already living in the US. A visa, green card or entry to any port may also be denied.

www.duiattorney.com