A man who shot a woman after she accidentally drove onto his driveway has been sentenced.
Kevin Monahan, 66, from New York, was found guilty of murder in January after he killed Kaylin Gillis, 20, in April last year.
Advert
Gillis had been travelling with a group of friends, including her boyfriend Blake Walsh, when the car she was in pulled into a driveway in Hebron, approximately 40 miles north of Albany.
Another car and a motorcycle driven by friends joined the car on the driveway, but the group turned around as they realized they had arrived at the wrong house.
Before they had chance to leave the property, Monahan allegedly came out on to his porch and fired two shots from a shotgun, one of which struck Gillis.
At the sentencing in Washington County today (March 1), Monahan was sentenced to 25 years to life.
Advert
Judge Adam D. Michelini told the 66-year-old that he had taken away 'so much unrealized potential'.
The judge added: "I think it's important for people to know that it's not OK to shoot people and have them killed for turning down your driveway."
"You murdered Kaylin Gillis. You shot at a car full of people and you didn't care what would happen and you repeatedly lied about it. You deserve to spend the maximum time in prison allowable under the law," he said.
Advert
Monahan declined an opportunity to speak in court.
At the trial in January, Walsh took the stand to testify, explaining that he heard a loud noise as he began backing up the car to leave the house.
One of his friends in the back seat said someone was shooting a gun, after which the atmosphere in the car became 'frantic'.
"People were screaming," Walsh said.
Advert
He told the court he heard a sound like metal breaking in the car as the gun was fired a second time.
Walsh recalled ducking as he drove away from the house and asked if his friends were OK. Two of the other people in the car, Jacob Haynes and Alexandra Whiting, were unharmed, but Gillis was slumped towards the door and did not respond.
The group shone their phone flashlights towards Gillis and saw she was wounded.
Advert
Walsh recalled pulling up next to a Jeep driven by his friend Katherine Rondeau to tell her that Gillis had been injured.
Maxwell Barney, who was also in the Jeep, testified: “He said ‘Kaylin’s been shot. We need to get to a hospital'."
The group had to drive for a few miles to get cellphone signal and call for help. In the meantime, Haynes kept his hand on Gillis' neck wound to try and stop the bleeding.
A dispatcher talked the group through CPR while they waited for help, but first responders were unable to save Gillis.
Monahan’s defense attorney, Arthur Frost, has argued Monahan was scared when the cars arrived on his driveway late at night.
He described the shooting as a 'terrible accident' and claimed the shotgun had been defective.
However, a firearms expert testified the gun had been functioning properly at the time.
Lucy Devine