MINEOLA, N.Y. (PIX11) -- The maximum sentence is what a judge ordered for Amandeep Singh for killing two teenage best friends in a wrong-way crash that he confessed to causing.
However, because that sentence could allow him to be out of prison in just over eight years, the victims' many supporters and family members are calling for new legislation that would toughen penalties in cases like this.
Those supporters and family members not only packed the courtroom where the sentencing took place on Friday, but they also filled two overflow courtrooms to capacity.
In all of the locations, emotions ran high as the hundreds of people who'd shown up for the hearing listened either in person in the courtroom or on video monitors in the overflow rooms to tear-filled statements from victims' family members.
The parents of Ethan Falkowitz and Drew Hassenbein gave victim impact statements from the witness stand. The siblings of the 14-year-old best friends also spoke.
After the hearing, Hassenbein's father, Mitch, described his courtroom testimony about Singh at a news conference.
"His recklessness, his not caring for others, is just grotesque," the father said. "How he can do that and destroy so many families and hurt so many thousands is unimaginable."
During the victims' statements by family members in court, Singh would not look up to face them. The 36-year-old Roslyn resident admitted to driving the wrong way down a busy road in May 2023 with a blood alcohol level more than twice the legal limit. He was also found to have had cocaine in his system.
In the incident, Singh slammed his Dodge RAM truck into the car in which Drew Hassenbein and Ethan Falkowitz were passengers. They and two other boys were driving home from a celebration of a tennis team victory in which they'd been vital.
The driver of their car that evening, then-high school senior Zach Sheena, spoke in court as well. All of the speakers condemned Singh.
The last to speak before sentencing was Singh himself. “Your anger towards me is fully understood and totally justified,” he said to the victims' families and supporters in a prepared statement.
After the hearing, Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly responded to Singh's statement with biting criticism.
"They were hollow words, said because he thought he had to say them," Donnelly said at the post-hearing news conference, "said because someday a parole board is going to look at what he said in court."
It's possible that Singh won't get out from behind bars until the absolute maximum time of his sentence: 25 years. Still, he'll be eligible for parole in eight years and four months. That means that the man who pled guilty to charges of aggravated vehicular homicide, manslaughter, assault, and other crimes could be back with his family in 2033. Singh's family was at court on Friday.
Regarding his sentence, Singh's attorneys said that they were empathic toward the victims' families and supporters.
"To the individuals who feel it's not enough, it's understandable," said James Kousouros, one of two lawyers representing Singh.
The eight-and-one-third year to 25-year sentence is the toughest the state allows in a case of this nature.
Revising the law to raise the maximum sentence is what the D.A. and the families called for on Friday. They also called for the passage of the Grieving Families Act. It would allow victims' families to seek compensation in cases of wrongful death like this one.
The act has been introduced in Albany in the past.
"The state failed my son," said Gary Falkowitz at the post-sentencing news conference. "It's a betrayal to every family that has suffered an unimaginable loss."
The families and the district attorney are calling for action to be taken in this year's legislative session.
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