Maximum Sentence Of Six Months For Driver Who Killed Man

via the Advance

The 19-year-old driver who hit and killed a 47-year-old man at a Staten Island bus stop pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide and will serve a maximum of six months in jail. Joseph Catrama admitted he ran a red light and was speeding when he turned from Seaview Avenue onto Capodanno Boulevard last February, lost control of his 2008 Hyundai Sonata, and pinned Nathan Pakow between the car's bumper and metal post displaying bus route information. According to the Advance, Catrama will be stripped of his drivers license and will face a minimum of five years probation. "This plea guarantees that the defendant is held accountable for his actions and avoids the uncertainty of a jury trial," said a spokesman for the Staten Island District Attorney's Office.

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By Ben Muessig in News on January 29, 2010 5:10 PM

Comments [rss]

ozik

This family seems to like being in the news via deadness:

http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/04/something_for_alex.html

The drivers brother, in an unrelated incident, died of an "apparent heart attack" outside a friends house.

Guest

i hear that some hispanics believe that death comes in three.. .

pissflaps

look how fat he is!

MrManhattan

You can hardly blame him for that, look how close Staten Island is to New Jersey!

hunter.blatherer

Sure, six months seems like a lenient penalty for Catrama. But just think! A driver who kills a pedestrian in a crosswalk, while turning on green, gets only a $150 fine.

People need to wake up about this. (But homicidal people with cars should not know these facts)

fauxsella

This is how the justice system values human life?

kedward

"This plea guarantees that the defendant is held accountable for his actions"

That's a joke, right?

Helen Thomas knows the score

thats shocking, disgusting....criminal.

adpwnage

Sigh. This makes me so unhappy.

PTG in nyc

I like how his license has been stripped as though that means something. 75% of these stories involve a driver without a license who ends up getting 6 months in jail for MURDERING people with a car. Fuck that.

kswissreject

Once again, using a vehicle to kill = OK.

pumpkin13

Six months? SIX MONTHS?!?!?! What a joke.

ProcedureTurn

6 months... thats all?

just saying

And his sentence could even be less since Catrama won't be actually sentenced until March 12. Right now, he's facing a MINIMUM of five years probation up to a MAXIMUM of six months in jail.

Joseph Catrama had run a red light and was speeding right before he plowed into the disabled and widowed grandfather waiting for a bus to the hospital.

This jerk is a complete waste of oxygen.