August 20, 2008
Emotions high as wrong-way driver gets prison sentence
Almost 20 months after he drove drunk the wrong way on the Meadowbrook Parkway and killed two people, Martin Heidgen stood up and said he was sorry Wednesday, the day he was sentenced -- but the victims' families refused to hear it.
"I'm not going to stay for their drivel," said Jennifer Flynn, the mother of victim Katie Flynn, as she walked out of the courtroom before Heidgen and his supporters spoke in court. "Screw them."
The tumultuous drunken driving murder trial of Martin Heidgen reached a climax Wednesday with a prison sentence -- 18 years to life -- that seemed to appease neither his victims nor his own family.
Moments before he received the sentence, Heidgen offered an apology to the families he hurt in the early hours of July 2, 2005. That night, Heidgen killed Katie Flynn, 7, and driver Stanley Rabinowitz, 59, and seriously injured Katie's parents, grandparents and sister as they returned from the wedding of Katie's aunt in Bayville. Christopher Tangney, Katie's grandfather, still walks with a cane. He, his wife, Denise; and Katie's father, Neil Flynn, have trouble standing or sitting for long periods.
"I am very sorry every day, every hour, every minute for the deaths of Katie Flynn and Stanley Rabinowitz, and the physical and emotional pain you have suffered and will continue to suffer," Heidgen said as he began to cry and choke up on his words, which he read from a handwritten statement. "Even those words do not fully express the sorrow and emptiness that I feel nor can I imagine how you must feel."
Last-minute emotions
His apology was also the first time Heidgen, who remained largely expressionless throughout the six-week long trial last fall, showed emotion in court.
Like the trial, Heidgen's sentencing was drawn-out, contentious and wrought with emotion. Eight statements in support of the maximum sentence of 25 years to life were read by the victims' family members, all of which referred to Heidgen, 25, as callous and remorseless. He was also called a "pathetic depraved individual," a "filthy child killer" and was compared to mass murderer Charles Manson.
No venom was spared for Heidgen's defense attorney Stephen LaMagna either. Neil Flynn addressed him as a liar, saying there was no "pus-filled sinkhole that you wouldn't swim in" to gain publicity.
Neil Flynn spoke of his young son Eamon sleeping in their bed every night because he is afraid of Heidgen, who he refers to as the "bad man."
"I tell him that I will protect him," Flynn said, breaking down into tears. "But we both know that I didn't protect Katie, so my words are empty."
Earlier, Heidgen's mother, father, stepfather and a priest he had known for less than a year all gave statements asking Acting State Supreme Court Justice Alan Honorof for leniency.
Rabinowitz' widow, Rita Rabinowitz, 62, got as far as hearing Margot Aponte speak about the heartbreak of only getting to see her son a few days a week before she left the courtroom. "I wish I had that luxury," she said. "I would take heartbreak for two or three times a week over what I've gone through."
In his sentencing, Honorof noted Heidgen's lack of a previous criminal record and said he knew Heidgen "didn't intend to take the lives" of Flynn and Rabinowitz. However, Honorof said Heidgen's phone calls and letters while in jail, which the court had access to, "speak volumes about who you are and where your true sympathies lie." Prosecutor Maureen McCormick had described the calls and letters as devoid of remorse.
Outside the doors
Despite the fragile feelings throughout the day, when the sentence came down just before 5 p.m., no one showed much emotion in the courtroom. Afterward and outside the court was different.
"What a gutless coward," Flynn said of Honorof. "I have nothing but contempt for him and the entire process."
"He should be sent to the gallows," Rabinowitz's son Keith said of Heidgen. "It's not fair that he gets to sit in a library and read books all day and see his family. There's no justice."
Heidgen's father, Kurt Aponte, said his son is no murderer.
"I'm devastated to see my son convicted for something as tragic as this," he said. "A lynching is what it is."
McCormick declined to speak at length afterward, saying she preferred to leave the day for the families. However, she said, "We believe he deserved the maximum time." Heidgen's attorney, LaMagna, declined to comment.
Staff writers Sophia Chang and Carl MacGowan contributed to this story.
Copyright © 2008, Newsday Inc.
