POUGHKEEPSIE – On the six-year anniversary of the deaths of Shawn and Patricia Wonderly at the hands of another driver, State Senator Sue Serino, and Assemblyman Kieran Lalor joined with members of law enforcement and relatives of the deceased to call for stricter sentencing guidelines for criminals that recklessly kill people.
On August 1, 2012 Mr. and Mrs. Wonderly were killed when their family car was struck by a vehicle driven by Ryan Floryan as he attempted to elude Poughkeepsie City Police that were attempting to arrest him on an outstanding warrant. The crash killed both and made their two young children instant orphans.
Floryan pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to 6 1/2 to 13 years in prison by then-Judge Steve Greller. At sentencing, Greller told the defendant that he was angry that the guidelines allowed for such a brief sentence as compared to his actions.
New York State only allows for the sentences to be served concurrently, or at the same time rather than one after the other which would punish the criminal for each life that he took.
Serino remains incensed over the lack of legislative action to change the penalties.
“I am shocked and angry that six years after the Wonderlys passed so tragically we are still standing here pleading with the state to fix its broken system of justice,” she said. Both Serino and Lalor credit the recently deceased Assemblyman Frank Skartados for spearheading the drive to change the law after learning of the Floryan sentence. Serino said that the legislation has passed the Senate each year with bipartisan support but the Assembly has not.
Lalor said that, despite the efforts of Skartados, Assemblywoman Didi Barrett, and himself, the majority members of the codes committee won’t bring it to a vote. Lalor said that leadership told him that consecutive sentences would raise double jeopardy issues. Lalor refutes that citing a State Court of Appeals ruling from 1984 that says the legislature can, in fact, change the law. Lalor claims that the Democratic Assembly majority party is soft on crime, especially as you get closer to New York City.
Lalor denounced what he called the excessively light punishment received by Floryan, noting that the proposed law wouldn’t affect Floryan directly. He also expressed his anger that the convicted criminal is scheduled for a parole hearing in September and could be out of prison as early as January of next year.
