ALBANY, N.Y. — In the long-awaited conclusion to one of the Capital Region's worst crashes in recent memory, Tyler Pascuzzi was sentenced Wednesday to 8 1/3 years to 25 years in state prison.
Pascuzzi was convicted in February on aggravated vehicular homicide and manslaughter, when a jury determined he had driven more than 155 miles per hour with a blood-alcohol content of 0.18 on July 4, 2014, before slamming into a tractor-trailer and killing passengers Alicia Tamboia and Cody Veverka.
The 26-year-old said nothing and showed little reaction to the sentence Wednesday; Pascuzzi told the judge that his attorneys had advised him not to speak.
"His conduct is probably the worst that I've seen in my 13 years of doing vehicular crimes," said prosecutor Mary Tanner-Richter. She noted that Pascuzzi showed no public grief or remorse after the crash.
As far as the speed and alcohol the night of the crash, Tanner-Richter said Pascuzzi could have prevented it all.
"It was because of his outrageous conduct that two very vibrant and young lives were ripped away from the people that loved them," she said.
Lori Tamboia, the mother of victim Alicia Tamboia, shared details of her daughter's life and death with the court. Tamboia, 24, had been pursuing a master's degree at the time of her death. She was an accomplished field hockey athlete in college, and her mother called Alicia "charitable," saying she often gave away concert tickets to those who couldn't afford them.
Her death, Lori Tamboia said, has made it hard to live: Lori now struggles with depression and anxiety, and has not been able to redecorate Alicia's bedroom.
"Every morning I wake up and immediately think of Alicia," said Lori Tamboia. "I ask God every night to give me the strength to forgive Tyler Pascuzzi for killing my daughter. I don't want to spend the rest of my life full of anger and hate."
Outside the courtroom, Pascuzzi's mother tearfully insisted her son is innocent.
"That DA is nothing but a liar," she said. "Three adults made a choice to get in that car ... my son is innocent, and we will prove it."
Defense attorney Michael McDermott explained his client's case further, involving DNA evidence which he says the prosecution fumbled. McDermott maintains that Pascuzzi was not driving the car on the night of the crash.
"There was no DNA at all [from Pascuzzi] on any of the surfaces that the driver would have had to touch," McDermott said. "We think the jury got it wrong."
McDermott said his team will appeal Pascuzzi's conviction in the near future. After the sentencing, District Attorney David Soares lauded the work of his investigators and prosecutors, and said that Pascuzzi got what he deserved.
"Whenever two cars strike, we tend to use the term 'accident' ... but we don't prosecute accidents. We prosecute crashes that are rooted in some negligence, recklessness or intentional bad behavior," Soares said. "That's what happened here."