A man who fatally shot a 20-year-old woman after the SUV she was riding in mistakenly drove into his rural driveway in upstate New York was sentenced Friday to 25 years to life in prison.
Kevin Monahan, 66, was convicted of second-degree murder in the death last April of Kaylin Gillis.
She was riding in a caravan of two cars and a motorcycle that was trying to leave after pulling into Monahan’s long, winding driveway while looking for a party at another person’s house in the town of Hebron.
“I think it’s important for people to know that it’s not OK to shoot people and have them killed for turning down your driveway,” Judge Adam Michelini said. Apart from the wider deterrent effect, Michelini said it’s important that Monahan remain behind bars rather than be free to harm more people.
The judge added up to 4 more years for tampering with the murder weapon, and scolded Monahan for showing no remorse.
“You murdered Kaylin Gillis. You shot at a car full of people and you didn’t care what would happen and you repeatedly lied about it. You deserve to spend the maximum time in prison allowable under the law,” the judge said.
Prosecutors had asked for the maximum. The defence asked for leniency. Monahan declined an opportunity to speak. And then he was led away, to applause and a shout of “coward” from the gallery.
Gillis’ death drew attention far beyond upstate New York. It came days after the shooting of 16-year-old Ralph Yarl in Kansas City. Yarl, who is Black, was wounded by an 84-year-old white man after he went to the wrong door while trying to pick up his younger brothers.
On the night of Gillis’ death, the group of friends had realized their error and had turned around when Monahan fired a second shot, striking Gillis in the neck as she sat in the front passenger seat of an SUV driven by her boyfriend.
Monahan maintained the fatal shot was an accident and that the shotgun was defective. He also said he believed the house about 40 miles (65 kilometres) north of Albany was “under siege” by intruders, and said he came out to fire a warning shot to try to scare the group away while his wife hid inside.
Prosecutors argued that Monahan was motivated by an irrational rage toward trespassers.
A jury deliberated for less than two hours before returning guilty verdicts in January against Monahan for murder, reckless endangerment and tampering with physical evidence.
Gillis’ father, Andrew Gillis, has described his daughter as someone who loved animals and had dreams of becoming a marine biologist or a veterinarian.
“Every day we wake up to the harsh reality that she’s no longer here. We will never see her beautiful face, hear her laughter,” Gillis said in court Friday before Monahan’s sentence was announced.
Her boyfriend, Blake Walsh, was behind the wheel of the SUV that night. “I will never be able to forgive you,” he told Monahan, who looked on with a stony face.
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