Fatal DWI brings six-month term in County Jail
Wheatfield man gets 5 years of probation
LOCKPORT — A Wheatfield man who killed his best friend while driving drunk last fall will serve a short jail sentence before going on probation, Niagara County Judge Matthew J. Murphy III decided Monday.
Ryan E. Gath, 22, of Maple Drive, was given a five-year probation term, but the first six months are to be served in the County Jail. Defense attorney Michael S. Taheri said that under the usual procedure in which a prisoner who behaves is freed after two-thirds of his sentence, Gath will be out in four months.
Forgiveness was the theme, as the family of Matthew K. Marin, the victim in the Sept. 21 crash, embraced Gath before he was handcuffed and led away.
“I’m sorry,” Gath whispered to Daniel Marin, Matthew’s brother.
“Whatever the sentence was going to be, I wouldn’t have complained about it,” Daniel said. “Ryan was always a good friend of mine and Matt’s.”
Gath, who pleaded guilty in February to criminally negligent homicide and a misdemeanor count of driving while intoxicated, could have received up to four years in prison.
Gath was speeding when his car ran off the road on a nearly 90-degree curve at Lower Mountain and Dickersonville roads in Lewiston and struck a tree. Marin, 25, of Cambria, a back-seat passenger, was ejected and killed.
A black box device in the 1997 Chevrolet Lumina estimated the car’s speed at 51 to 54 mph. A Sheriff’s Office accident reconstruction estimated the speed at 60 to 62 mph, and Gath told police he thought he was driving faster than that.
The speed limit at the scene is 45 mph, but a sign advises drivers to take the curve at 20 mph.
Gath told police he was tailgating at Ralph Wilson Stadium that day and drank 12 beers before kickoff and four or five more after the Bills game started.
Taheri, who joined Barry N. Covert in defending Gath, said the Marin family’s desire not to have Murphy impose too harsh a sentence on Gath was an example of “collaborative justice.”
“You learned a lot about compassion in the criminal justice system and that there is a place for it,” Taheri said.
Deputy District Attorney Theodore A. Brenner declined comment on the sentence. Murphy chose the same sentence recommended by a probation officer who interviewed Gath after his plea.
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