‘You simply don’t get it.’ Decide admonishes NY man who fatally shot girl in his driveway and sentences him to 25 years to life

Kevin Monahan was sentenced Friday to 25 years to life in jail for taking pictures and killing a lady who was a passenger in a automobile that mistakenly drove up his driveway in rural New York final yr.

“I believe you actually might presumably do the identical factor once more,” Washington County Decide Adam Michelini admonished Monahan earlier than imposing his sentence for second-degree homicide. “It’s apparent to me that you simply really feel justified. You don’t take any duty for the end result of your actions. You simply don’t get it.”

Moreover, MIchelini imposed a concurrent sentence of two 1/3 to seven years in jail for reckless endangerment and a consecutive time period of 1 1/3 to 4 years in jail for tampering with proof.

Monahan was convicted final month within the April 2023 dying of 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis, a passenger in a car that Monahan shot at when it unintentionally became his driveway whereas its occupants had been searching for a buddy’s home. Gillis died a short while after the taking pictures.

Prosecutors argued that the 66-year-old defendant acted recklessly. The protection stated what occurred was a horrible accident, and Monahan took the stand at trial to elucidate his actions.

“The very first thing you do on the witness stand while you come up right here and testify is you made a joke to the jury about them lastly with the ability to see your face,” Michelini advised the defendant. “You senselessly took the lifetime of Kaylin Gillis and you’ve got the gall to take a seat right here and speak about how you intend to complete up the work on your home and race motocross sooner or later. You don’t deserve that. What would make you assume that you simply deserve these issues?”

In killing Gillis, the decide stated, Monahan “took away a buddy, you took away a girlfriend, you took away a daughter, a granddaughter and a sibling. You took away a lot unrealized potential, her potential to counterpoint different folks’s lives and to contribute to our society.”

Michelini added, “Any regret you may have isn’t for the hurt you’ve brought on. The one remorse you may have is that you simply’re lastly dealing with the implications on your actions. You murdered Kaylin Gillis. You shot at a automobile full of individuals and also you didn’t care what would occur and also you repeatedly lied about it. You need to spend the utmost time in jail allowable underneath our legislation, and I don’t make this determination as a result of it’s straightforward. I make it as a result of it’s what’s deserved. I make it as a result of it’s what’s simply.”

Monahan declined to handle the court docket earlier than the decide handed down the sentence. At trial Monahan testified he felt like he and his spouse had been underneath siege that day and that he solely needed to guard his spouse, Spectrum News 1 reported.

Monahan advised jurors that he and his spouse had been woke up by three autos in his driveway: two SUVs and a bike revving its engine, the station reported. He testified that he advised his spouse to cover of their closet, and he loaded his 20-gauge pump-action shotgun earlier than going exterior.

Monahan testified that he thought of previous legal exercise within the space and fired a warning shot into the air. The autos started to depart slowly, he testified, and he misplaced his steadiness on some nails on his deck when the second deadly shot was fired, Spectrum Information 1 reported.

Beneath cross-examination, Monahan was not capable of level out in {a photograph} the nails that brought on him to lose his steadiness. He was emotional when requested how Gillis’ dying made him really feel, telling the jury that his “soul is lifeless,” the station reported.

Gillis was fatally shot simply days after a Black teenager in Kansas Metropolis was shot twice by a White home-owner after going to the wrong address to select up his siblings.

Within the New York taking pictures, after the photographs had been fired Gillis’ group drove away from the home, searching for cellular phone service, after which known as 911.

They had been discovered round 5 miles away from the house within the city of Salem. First responders started administering CPR however Gillis was pronounced lifeless on the scene.

Law enforcement officials went to Monahan’s house in Hebron and located him to be uncooperative, the Washington County sheriff advised reporters on the time.

Gillis’ household issued a press release on the time praising her as a “form, stunning soul and a ray of sunshine to anybody who was fortunate sufficient to know her.”

“She was a giant sister, a lot cherished daughter, devoted buddy and accomplice to her loving boyfriend. She was simply starting to search out her means on the planet with kindness, humor, and love,” the household stated. “Kaylin was a proficient artist, an honor scholar, a Disney fanatic and cherished animals. She was wanting ahead to beginning faculty in Florida to pursue her dream of turning into a marine biologist.”

Gillis graduated from Schuylerville Excessive Faculty in 2021 and held the place of “flyer” on the cheerleading crew.

This story has been up to date with extra info.

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