Ex-Marine Sentenced in Fatal East Meadow DWI Crash

Following months of delays and legal maneuvering, former Marine James Farr agreed to withdraw his legal challenge in exchange for a deal to serve one year in jail for the 2009 drunk-driving accident that took the lives of two brothers on Hempstead Turnpike in East Meadow. He was sentenced April 28 in Mineola.

Farr, 34, of Garden City, will end up serving about six and a half months in jail as a result of time already served, according to his attorney, Greg Grizopoulos of Rockville Centre.

Farr was facing a sentence of 1 1/3 to 4 years in jail after being convicted of criminally negligent homicide and drunk-driving in the brothers’ Thomas Occhiogrosso, 27, of Riverhead and Joseph Occhiogrosso, 28, of East Meadow as they crossed Hempstead Turnpike and were struck by Farr’s SUV in August 2009.

However, in a surprise turn, Farr withdrew a pending legal challenge and also waived his right to any future appeals in the case as part of the negotiated deal.

Most recently, Grizopoulos had filed a challenge seeking to overturn Farr’s conviction of Criminally Negligent Homicide based in part on widespread testing problems uncovered last year at the Nassau County Crime Lab. The crime lab was closed a few months ago and remains shuttered as the county seeks to remedy the lab’s troubled testing procedures.

“If we appealed the conviction, and I believe we had a very strong legal basis, it would have taken around two years and the end of the case would have been delayed for everyone,” Grizopoulos said. “…the Occhiogrosso family would have had to go through this whole process again.”

Nassau Judge David Sullivan had also reportedly said that the sentence would “add finality for the families involved.”

Addressing remarks made by Occhiogrosso relatives during the trial, Grizopoulos said that he felt his client was not without sympathy.

“The Occhiogrosso family was upset because they didn’t see much emotion from James but he was trained as a Marine and they are taught to not wear emotions on their sleeves,” Grizopoulos explained.  “But, in my office, he had a lot of emotion when the brothers were discussed.”

Commenting on Farr’s five years’ probation, he added “The person that James is, I don’t expect he’ll have any problems on probation. He’s one of those people that you’ll never hear from again.”

 Meanwhile, Susan Halladay, the mother of Thomas Occhiogrosso’s widow, Erin, was clearly distressed by the sentence. “Basically, stealing a wallet gets you more time than James Farr got for killing two great people,” Halladay said in an email. “What is the lesson here? That drunk-driving is OK? And the crime lab issue was a bargaining chip! We continue to be the victims. Go figure.”

Halladay recalled how her son-in law Thomas was out of the Navy little more than a year, living in Riverhead and working in Mattituck at the time of his death, awaiting a spot on the Riverhead Police Force. “Thomas was a part of this community [in Mattituck] and I want people to know what a great man and father he was,” she said. “Everyone who knew him loved him.”

She added that her granddaughter Cecilia was the real victim in “all of this sadness.”

Occhiogrosso family friend Patricia Zimmerman was equally dissatisfied with the verdict. “Our system, in my opinion, has failed in this case,” she said. “He [Farr] got sent away with a slap on his wrist. The only thing I can wish for now is peace for the Occhiogrosso and Halladay family. The only sentence we can now hope for James Farr is one of guilt, regret, remorse and a hope that he goes on to make right of what he did by teaching others about the aftermath of driving drunk.”

In an emailed statement, Zimmerman talked about the need for tougher drunk driving laws and her sadness over the entire situation. “…I am just happy for my friend that this is over and maybe now Erin can begin to pick up the pieces and have some sort of normal life for herself and her daughter.”