Verdicts are mixed bag in fatal DWI crash case

Nassau County Court Judge David Sullivan called jurors into his Mineola courtroom late last Friday afternoon, three days after they began deliberating.

Then there was five minutes of silence.

Family members and friends of Joseph and Thomas Occhiogrosso filled the seats on the left side of the gallery. On the right side of the room were the friends and family of James Farr, who nervously waited with his defense attorney, Gregory  Grizopoulos.

Farr, an ex-Marine from Garden City, was on trial for striking and killing Joseph and Thomas Occhiogrosso, two East Meadow brothers, with his BMW as they crossed Hempstead Turnpike on Aug. 23, 2009. Toxicology tests after the incident showed that Farr’s blood had more than twice the legal alcohol content.

Several court officers scattered throughout the room stood guard. Outbursts are not uncommon when verdicts are announced.

The jury entered. Sullivan instructed the foreman to announce 11 verdicts.

Seven counts of vehicular manslaughter: not guilty.

Many people on the Occhiogrosso side started to cry.

Two counts of criminally negligent homicide: guilty. Two counts of aggravated driving while intoxicated: guilty.

Then the jurors were polled. Each one confirmed that these were indeed his or her verdicts.

There were no cheers. No clapping. Not even a noticeable sigh.

Sullivan set the sentencing date for Jan. 14. Then court officers cleared the gallery.

Farr and Grizopoulos were among the last to leave the courtroom. Farr, who faces a possible sentence of 1 1/3 to four years in prison, could not look directly into the news cameras that followed him down the hallway. He tearfully sputtered as he delivered a brief sound bite for reporters.

“I’m very sorry for the loss of the two young men in this case,” he said.

The emotional, month-long trial was over.

Members of the Occhiogrosso contingent consoled one another in the hallway, and began to make their way out of the courthouse as attorneys addressed the media.