September 7, 2008
Driver accused of having death wish
Martin Heidgen was trying to kill himself as he drunkenly sped up the Meadowbrook Parkway against traffic July 2, making no effort to avoid oncoming cars, a Nassau prosecutor said Friday.
Instead, Heidgen killed two strangers, slamming into a limousine heading home from a wedding, Assistant District Attorney Fred Klein said.
"He told police he had an argument with his girlfriend, he was in despair," said Klein, supervisor of the Nassau district attorney's Major Offense Bureau, at Heidgen's arraignment on second-degree murder charges. "This defendant was trying to end his own life."
Heidgen pleaded not guilty to two counts of second-degree murder on charges that he killed Katie Flynn, 7, of Long Beach, who had just served as a flower girl at her aunt's wedding, and Stanley Rabinowitz, 59, of Farmingdale, the limo driver. Heidgen also faces charges of assault, reckless endangerment and driving while intoxicated. Nassau County Court Judge Alan Honorof ordered Heidgen held without bail.
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Heidgen's attorney, Stephen LaMagna, of Garden City, rejected Klein's theory. He said his client was happy and hopeful, not suicidal. "I've spoken to every one of the witnesses. Every one of them says what a great mood he was in, what a great person he was," LaMagna said. "There is nothing to support that this was anything other than a tragic, unfortunate accident with a 24-year-old trying to get home."
Heidgen's father, Kurt Heidgen, declined to comment.
Nolan Rabinowitz, 30, Stanley's son, said the idea that Heidgen was trying to kill himself should not detract from the murder charges.
"It's the worst kind of murder there is," he said. Relatives of Flynn and Rabinowitz crowded the courtroom Friday, some weeping openly as Klein told Honorof of Heidgen's recklessness. The crowd was silent as Heidgen, without the wheelchair he'd been using since he broke his ankle in the crash, stood before the judge.
Klein said Heidgen started the night at a bar in Manhattan, where witnesses saw him drink several beers. He then went home and drank a fifth of liquor, possibly scotch or whiskey, Klein said. After that, he went to a party in Nassau, where he participated in drinking games, Klein said.
At previous get-togethers, Heidgen's friends had tried to take his keys away so he couldn't drive, Klein said. This time, though, Heidgen "snuck out of the party" with a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit, Klein said.
"What I want to impress upon the court is that this is not casual drinking," Klein said. "This is conscious criminal conduct."
When Heidgen got on the parkway about 2 a.m., he was acting like a man with a death wish, Klein said.
"The driver passed other motorists who were trying to warn him, blowing their horns, flashing their lights, pulling over to the side of the road," Klein said. "But he continued, exit after exit."
LaMagna said after the proceeding that murder charges -- a rarity in drunken driving cases -- do not fit his client.
"This is not a person waiting in an alley and killing someone to steal their wallet," he said.
LaMagna said Heidgen has a lifelong record of leadership, running a day-care service in high school. "Sometimes very good people unintentionally can be responsible for bad things," LaMagna said outside court.
Copyright © 2008, Newsday Inc.
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