The man who was accused of fatally running over a film editor walking home with her groceries last year was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison for manslaughter. David McKie struck Karen Schmeer with a car in January 2010 while fleeing from police after robbing a CVS with some friends. The Post reports that in court yesterday McKie repeatedly said, "I'm sorry!" and "[broke] into gasping sobs and [turned] toward the audience of a Manhattan courtroom where the friends of... Schmeer sat watching, themselves in tears."
The robbery took place at a CVS at West 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue (over-the-counter allergy medicine was taken). The police followed McKie and the other robbers on foot, but then the suspects got into a car. Police say they tried to pull the Dodge Avenger sedan over at W. 86th and Amsterdam, but McKie sped on, running four lights, hitting another car and then running straight in to Schmeer who was crossing West 90th Street.
The Post explains, "McKie was initially charged with murder under the legal theory that he had displayed a depraved indifference to human life. But a recent, precedent-setting state Court of Appeals reversal in a very similar Rochester case made it unlikely that a murder conviction against McKie could ever be sustained." McKie pleaded to manslaughter in July and took the deal from the DA's office.
Schmeer was an acclaimed documentary film editor who worked with Errol Morris. One friend was particularly upset that McKie's defense lawyer claimed that his client had a "brilliant future," saying, “He has a brilliant future? Karen had a brilliant future. We had a brilliant future together."
