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ALBANY - The driver in a high-speed crash that killed two people in 2014 was convicted of vehicular manslaughter and other charges Wednesday.
Prosecutors at the trial of Tyler Pascuzzi, of Coxsackie, said Pascuzzi had been drinking on the night of July 4, 2014, when he drove his car 150 m.p.h. on the Thruway in Guilderland. He then hit another vehicle and a tractor-trailer before splitting his car in half and killing his two passengers, Alicia Tamboia of Wingdale, Dutchess County, and Cody Veverka, 23, of Cairo, Greene County.
He was found guilty of two counts of second-degree manslaughter and one count of aggravated vehicular homicide, according to the Albany County District Attorney's office. Jury members deliberated for about two and a half hours before deciding the fate of Pascuzzi, who will remain in Albany County jail until his April 5 sentencing hearing. The vehicular homicide charge alone could mean eight and a half to 25 years in prison.
The verdict followed months of emotional court appearances for both Pascuzzi and the families of those killed in the crash. In March, Tamboia's mother had to be held back from Pascuzzi as she followed him out of a court appearance. "Look!" the mother yelled at Pascuzzi, showing him her daughter's photo. Pascuzzi was free on $250,000 bail at the time.
Prosecutors said Pascuzzi had a .18 percent blood alcohol level — more than twice the legal limit of .08 percent — when he lost control of his Volkswagen between exits 24 and 25.
In her Jan. 31 testimony, Lori Caponigo Tamboia recalled the last time she'd see her daughter.
"She had a backpack on her back. She walked down the stairs," the mother testified. "I told her be careful and said I loved her. She said she loved me. She walked out the door."
Pascuzzi, Tamboia and Veverka then drove to East Greenbush, watched fireworks over the Empire State Plaza and returned to Pascuzzi's rental home on Cordell Road in Colonie, before stopping
at a Central Avenue bar and then heading back to Cordell Road at about 11:30 p.m.
Pascuzzi's lawyers had hoped to prove that he was a passenger, not the driver, in the fatal crash. But prosecutors said Veverka's DNA was found throughout the car, including in clothing wedged into a passenger side door. Veverka's father, William Veverka, also told reporters he did not believe his son would be driving Pascuzzi's car, which the defendant planned to trade in the next day.
During the trial, Pascuzzi's lawyers also warned jurors against the "justice of a lynch mob," and questioned why a Thruway ticket that they say would determine the DNA of the driver was not tested by police and prosecutors.
RDownen@timesunion.com - 518-454-5018 - Follow @RobertDownenTU
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