The drunk driver who decapitated 7-year-old flower girl Katie Flynn and also killed her family’s hired driver after a wedding in Long Island has been released from prison. Due to which anger has spread among the relatives of the victims.
Martin Hedgen, 43, who served 19 years behind bars for second-degree murder in the July 2, 2005, wrongful conviction on Meadowbrook Parkway in Freeport, walked out of prison Wednesday after being granted parole, according to the state Department of Corrections and Community supervision confirmed this on Sunday.
For the families of little Katie and murdered limo driver Stanley Rabinowitz, the system failed.
Joyce Rabinowitz-Schuster said, “This liberalism is a shot in the back of families who lose loved ones.” the driver’s widow said in an email to The Post.
“There is no accountability in New York state anymore. The punishment for murder should be a minimum of 25 years. These neglectful attitudes are causing crime to rise in NYS and it must stop,” he wrote.
Rabinowitz-Schuster said, “My family and the Flynns and Tangney families (Katie’s maternal grandparents) realize this crime every day and the hundreds of other friends and family members of the victims involved in this murder.” “Shame on the parole board that released a murderer.”
Heidgen, who was 24 at the time of the fatal crash, had driven his pickup truck in the wrong direction for about 3 miles when he collided with the limo while returning from a pleasant beach-front family wedding in Bayville.
Authorities said his blood alcohol content was three times the legal limit when he crashed.
In the limousine were Katie, her younger sister, 5-year-old Grace, their parents, Neil and Jennifer Flynn, and Jennifer’s parents, Dennis and Chris Tangney, a retired Nassau County policeman.
The wedding was of Jennifer’s sister.
in a statement to Newsday, which first reported HeizenFollowing the release Katie’s parents said the parole board’s decision to release their young daughter’s killer had had a “deep impact” on the family.
“We asked that the public could know our grief and feel our pain,” Jennifer Flynn told the outlet. “Katie was murdered as a 7-year-old girl; Where his murderer lives, whether in prison or on parole, makes no difference to our lives.
“We realize our news cycle has ended, but our hope is that your readers will think about us and that we will influence their choices.”
Heidegen was sentenced to 19 years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of murder, three counts of first-degree assault and tampering with physical evidence, state officials said.
criminal tried to appeal the decision After being imprisoned however he was shot.
A state DOCCS spokeswoman said Sunday that the parole board granted Hedgen conditional release on Aug. 13 and he was released on Wednesday.
The conditions of their release include remaining in the state until they are allowed to leave.
Hedgen’s attorney did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment, but said in a statement to Newsday that his client is devastated by the tragedy.
“Both Marty and his family are grateful to the Parole Board that it deemed it appropriate for Marty to be released on parole and that he will be given the opportunity to re-enter society and become a productive and constructive member of our community,” attorney Stephen Lamagna said. has allowed.” Shop.
“He is forever remorseful for the pain he has caused so many people and continues to pray for them and their families,” Lamagna said in the statement.
(TagstoTranslate)Metro(T)US News(T)Drunk Driving(T)Long Island(T)Homicide(T)Parole(T)Victims
