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Ulmer was convicted of a top count of PL 125.15-1, a C Felony. One person died.
Ryan was convicted of PL 125.14-5, a B Felony. One person died and one person sustained a serious physical injury.
B and C felonies have different sentencing guidelines, hence different sentences.
Also, the mother of the victim in the Ulmer crash asked the judge for leniency. The surviving family of the victim in the Ryan case asked for the max.
It seems that you either do not understand or did not take the time to familiarize yourself with the cases and the offenses involved.
Where did you get the information on Ryan? A link would be helpful - news articles only refer to the case in very general terms. From what I'm seeing he wasn't convicted of 125.14-5 (aggravated vehicular homicide), the articles I've seen actually make a point to state he wasn't convicted of it.
Quote:
A jury found Ryan guilty of charges including aggravated criminally negligent homicide, vehicular manslaughter, drunken driving and reckless endangerment.
However, they acquitted him of the most serious charge — aggravated vehicular homicide, which was initially tossed by a judge, who was later overruled on appeal.
The information on his trial is no longer available because the sentencing has been finalized but this is the site where you can check any currently pending case in NY.
It's a public website and your right to have access to this information as a citizen.
As far as the charges go for Ryan. I don't necessarily agree with them. What is important here is understanding the language of the law and how it differs from what some call "common sense."
In my eyes, I don't think that the first crash and the impact that killed the cop are one-in-the-same. BUT, an appellate court already reversed an earlier decision to throw out the top count of the indictment.
Most importantly, this man was convicted by a jury of his peers. No one gets railroaded into a trial. The prosecution almost never wants to go to trial because it is risky and expensive. They will offer you plea after plea after plea. People go to trial because they won't accept the consequences of their actions and they think that they can get off.
I guarantee that Ryan could have pled guilty to a C or D Felony and guaranteed himself a minimum sentence recommendation. He would have been looking at a 5-year term, with parole in 2 1/2. Instead he will likely go to prison for 8 or 10 years.
On a final note, a lot of people think that the case was only tried vigorously because the deceased was a cop. The defendant's father is a retired cop as well. There were no winners in that regard.
Lol, like that time they tried to charge George Zimmerman with "child endangerment/abuse" which the judge laughed at.
Dude got off free.
Sometimes the legal system is baffling- but the police exist under our executive branch of government, but all too often (especially in NY) have a lot of sway in the judicial branch as well.
This guy though caused TWO accidents, and fled from one. So, in some way I can understand an officer dying in pursuit of him as he caused his second accident is a valid charge.
I find causation law kind of whacky though. Who's to say if hadn't left the first accident site that more innocent people could have somehow have been killed.
Where did you get the information on Ryan? A link would be helpful - news articles only refer to the case in very general terms. From what I'm seeing he wasn't convicted of 125.14-5 (aggravated vehicular homicide), the articles I've seen actually make a point to state he wasn't convicted of it.
It seems like Ryan got hit with a very stiff sentence and I hope the jury was not trying to send a message by slamming the son of a cop.
The information on his trial is no longer available because the sentencing has been finalized but this is the site where you can check any currently pending case in NY.
It's a public website and your right to have access to this information as a citizen.
As far as the charges go for Ryan. I don't necessarily agree with them. What is important here is understanding the language of the law and how it differs from what some call "common sense."
In my eyes, I don't think that the first crash and the impact that killed the cop are one-in-the-same. BUT, an appellate court already reversed an earlier decision to throw out the top count of the indictment.
Most importantly, this man was convicted by a jury of his peers. No one gets railroaded into a trial. The prosecution almost never wants to go to trial because it is risky and expensive. They will offer you plea after plea after plea. People go to trial because they won't accept the consequences of their actions and they think that they can get off.
I guarantee that Ryan could have pled guilty to a C or D Felony and guaranteed himself a minimum sentence recommendation. He would have been looking at a 5-year term, with parole in 2 1/2. Instead he will likely go to prison for 8 or 10 years.
On a final note, a lot of people think that the case was only tried vigorously because the deceased was a cop. The defendant's father is a retired cop as well. There were no winners in that regard.
You stated Ryan was convicted of a B felony but news reports state the opposite - were you mistaken or do you have some other source? Webcrims no longer gives information on his case.
The charges against Ryan and Ulmer are pretty similar,
aggravated criminally negligent homicide, manslaughter and drunken driving against Ryan (per newsday)
Manslaughter second, vehicular manslaughter second and dwi against Ulmer (liherald.com)
The felonies are C except vehicular ms which is D, the dwi's are misdemeanors.
We have different a different view on the Constitutionally guaranteed right to trial. Any plea deal from the People likely required Ryan plead guilty to a crime where he acknowledged guilt for the officer's death - that's the whole issue though, and presumably Ryan and his lawyer(s) felt there was clearly a superceding event that broke the chain of events.
That's even assuming the People made an offer, but they may have viewed this as a chance to expand the law at minimum risk - they had Ryan dead to rights on the dwi, probably fleeing the scene, so why not try to push for manslaughter?
If somebody had been pulled over for driving with a broken tail light (and knew it was broken) and the officer who pulled them over got hit by a car, would this be an issue? Maybe...
The Appellate Division's holding:
Quote:
Here, viewing the evidence before the grand jury in the light most favorable to the prosecution (see People v Mills, 1 NY3d at 274-275), we find that there was legally sufficient proof before the grand jury that the defendant’s actions “caused” the officer’s death. Specifically, it was reasonably foreseeable that the defendant’s conduct would cause collisions and that the police would respond and be required to be in the roadway, where they would be exposed to the potentially lethal danger presented by fast-moving traffic (see People v DaCosta, 6 NY3d at 186; cf. People v Ballenger, 106 AD3d 1375).
Can't it be said that nearly any violation of the rules of the road (speeding, no signal lane change, too slow in left lane...) leads to reasonable foreseeability that you'll get pulled over, causing an officer to be in the roadway exposed to fast-moving traffic?
Anyway, to the OP's point, the disparity in sentencing in the two cases is strange imo.
Last edited by unctorious; 03-10-2016 at 09:51 PM..
Reason: Quoted user GMalo's post twice
I have no sympathy for drunk drivers, but OP and unctorious are right. This case sets a bad precedent. I bet Ryan being White/yuppie looking worked against him. No way would a DA try this against a minority. And the fact that it was a cop who was killed didn't help. A regular citizen, or say an EMT...no way does he get the book thrown at him like this. In fact, there are DWIs who are the actual driver and directly kill people all the time. They usually get off much lighter than this.
Last edited by Howard Beale; 03-11-2016 at 12:37 PM..
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