SYRACUSE -- A Town of Clay man accused of driving drunk, crashing and killing 23-year-old Liverpool woman, the mother of his child, was sentenced in Onondaga County Court Monday morning.
22-year-old Mark Richter was sentenced to a minimum of 3 years to a maximum of 9 years in state prison by Judge Anthony Aloi for vehicular manslaughter.
Richter pleaded guilty to in April for killing Debra Brown on their way home from a party back in May of 2011. Richter is the father of Brown’s child.
Brown was a passenger in Richter’s car when he smashed into a tree on Grampian Road in the Town of Clay. Investigators say Richter was drunk and was unable to negotiate the turn near Garloch Court.
There were two other passengers in the car, 21-year-old Ryan Kyanka and 16-year-old Miranda Pellizzeri, who were not seriously injured.
Richter was charged with vehicular manslaughter and aggravated DWI. He was also charged with three counts of endangering the welfare of a child and one count of unlawfully dealing with a child stemming from allegedly giving Pellizzeri, 16, alcohol at a house party they were all coming from at the time of the crash.
At his arraignment, where he originally pleaded not-guilty, Richter cried and apologized for the crime. "I'm very sorry," he said, as he was being led away by deputies. "It hurts me a lot to have to lose my loved one. I'll never have a family again ever. I loved Debbie."
