Ryan Lacey’s decision to drink and drive cost his girlfriend her life. Michael O’Connor’s recklessness killed a man he didn’t know.

In different courtrooms in different counties, both men acknowledged their crimes Friday and are now preparing to spend months or years in a jail cell.

Lacey, 21, of Lockport, faces up to eight years in state prison when he is sentenced Dec. 18 in Niagara County Court for the crash that killed Kristina Moley, 19, of Wilson. Lacey pleaded guilty to violation of probation, driving while intoxicated and criminally negligent homicide. He was on probation for an attempted burglary conviction at the time of the fatal crash.

O’Connor, 23, who now lives in Wyoming County, accepted a prosecution plea deal that reduced his crime from first-to second-degree vehicular manslaughter. He was about to stand trial in State Supreme Court in the death of Thomas Hajduk, 51.

State Supreme Court Justice Christopher J. Burns agreed to accept the plea deal that prosecutors Gary W. Hackbush and Bethany A. Solek negotiated with O’Connor. Members of his victim’s family agreed to the plea.

Hajduk was killed late on the afternoon of Nov. 2, when he was struck and killed on Aurora Street in Lancaster while walking to a friend’s house for dinner. Lancaster police later filed a DWI charge against O’Connor, who had just dropped off some friends while returning home after the Bills game.

Burns told O’Connor he faces a jail term of at least one year and possibly a prison term of up to three years when he returns for sentencing Jan. 7.

O’Connor told the judge that the afternoon of the fatal incident he had consumed “seven or eight beers.” Hackbush and Solek told the judge that even two hours after the fatal incident O’Connor had an illegal blood-alcohol reading of O. 09 per cent.

The judge allowed O’Connor to remain free on $5,000 previously posted bail and warned him not to drink or drive between now and his sentencing.

O’Connor, of Telegraph Road, Bliss, declined comment as he left the courtroom following the noontime plea.

In Niagara County Court, Lacey was joined by members of his family and the family of his girlfriend. Lacey admitted he was drunk at about 9:40 p. m. July 21 and driving 60 mph in a recommended 30- mph zone on Ruie Road in North Tonawanda, when he lost control of his sport utility vehicle on a curve and the vehicle slammed into a tree. Moley, who was wearing a seat belt and had to be extricated from the vehicle, was pronounced dead a short time later in De- Graff Memorial Hospital.

Moley’s parents, John and Lynn, have stood by Lacey’s side throughout his court appearances. John Moley sat next to Lacey on Friday morning as he faced Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza.

Lacey told Sperrazza that he continues to receive therapy for the depression and anxiety he has suffered since the crash.

Outside the courtroom, he said he loved his girlfriend and was thankful for the support of her parents.

“I don’t think I could have made it through this without them,” he said.

Sperrazza said in court that Moley’s parents and her sister, Emily, had asked for more leniency than was part of the agreement that led to Friday’s plea but was refused by the Niagara County District Attorney’s Office.

Defense attorney David Farrugia said the support he has seen from the Moleys “frankly is unheard of in my career.”

“We’ll find out what influence it has with the judge,” Farrugia said. “We are hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.”

Lacey’s father, Mark, put his head down as the judge began reading the charges against his son. His wife, Kathy, and Lynn Moley sat together and cried.

“This could have happened to anybody,” Kathy Lacey said after the proceeding. “[My son] loved her, and he lost his best friend. He can never forgive himself.”

“He’s a good kid,” Lynn Moley said of Lacey. “I’ve never been a very forgiving person, but as a mother there’s a real bond [between the two families] now. We absolutely want to be involved in his life after all this, and we hope to have someone young like Ryan involved in a victim’s impact panel. We want to make a difference and have Ryan be willing to stand by us. Maybe we can make someone else think twice.”