October 12, 2008
'Self-destruct mode'
Investigator recalls suspect in fatal limo crash telling him he drank heavily and was depressed that night
Strapped to a hospital bed 10 hours after his pickup truck slammed into a limousine on the Meadowbrook Parkway in July 2005, Martin Heidgen told a police officer that he was distraught and hopeless when he got in his vehicle, the officer testified yesterday.
"He said he's gotten into an argument with his ex-girlfriend on the phone from Arkansas and he got into a self-destruct mode," State Police Investigator Michael Harris testified. "He said he was very upset and depressed and he drank a lot of alcohol."
Harris' testimony yesterday was some of the most damaging so far in Heidgen's murder trial. It supports prosecutors' contention that Heidgen was in a depraved state of mind at the time of the crash and didn't care who lived or died as a result of his actions - a requirement for a second-degree murder conviction.
"It would be hard to imagine evidence more important than what comes out of a defendant's own mouth about what he was thinking at the time," said prosecutor Maureen McCormick, noting that the phrase "self-destruct mode" was Heidgen's own.
Heidgen, 25, of Valley Stream, is accused of driving drunk the wrong way on the parkway, hitting the limousine as it returned from a wedding in Bayville. Killed were the limo driver, Stanley Rabinowitz, 59, of Farmingdale, and 7-year-old Katie Flynn, of Long Beach, who had served as a flower girl in her aunt's wedding.
Heidgen's lawyer, Stephen LaMagna of Garden City, questioned Harris' testimony, pointing to several things Harris recalled Heidgen saying that turned out not to be true. For example, Harris said Heidgen told him he was home for several hours before the crash, when others have said he was at a party in Merrick.
Harris said he and another investigator interviewed Heidgen about noon on the day after the crash. At the time, Heidgen thought he'd hit a guard rail or a tree and had no idea that two people had been killed, Harris said.
Heidgen went to work selling insurance in Manhattan the previous evening, then met a friend for drinks at the House of Brews bar in Manhattan's theater district, Harris said Heidgen told him.
Then Heidgen returned home to Valley Stream, where he got a phone call from his ex-girlfriend, Lindsay Long of Little Rock, Heidgen said, according to Harris. The two got into a fight, and when Heidgen hung up he was in a dismal mood, and drank a bottle of Scotch, Harris said.
"He said ever since he moved to New York everything was going wrong," Harris said. "He said everything he seems to do is never enough."
In addition to the fight with his ex-girlfriend, Harris said Heidgen was having financial problems. Prosecutors have also said that Heidgen's mother, with whom he lived, was getting remarried and moving, adding another layer of stress.
Harris said he asked Heidgen several times if he meant to hurt himself on the night of the crash. The first time, he said, Heidgen answered ambiguously: "No, never before." But when Harris asked again, he said Heidgen gave a more definitive answer.
"He said 'I would never check out like this. I was waiting for another hand to be dealt,'" Harris testified.
LaMagna said Harris took no notes during the interview, and is now relying on memory and another officer's notes. LaMagna said phone records show no evidence of a call from Long that evening, and added that it is strange that Heidgen did not mention the party, where friends said Heidgen was in a great mood until he left about a half-hour before the crash.
Heidgen's mother, Margot Aponte, also said her son wasn't depressed and had no financial problems.
"Marty has never been depressed in his life," Aponte said. "He is optimistic, and full of plans for the future."
At a glance
Previously: Testimony about apparent mishandling by state police of Martin Heidgen's blood evidence.
Yesterday: Testimony that Heidgen told police that he was in "self-destruct mode" when he drove the wrong way on the Meadowbrook Parkway.
Still to come: Accident reconstruction experts will estimate how fast the two vehicles were traveling.
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