Re: New York man convicted of murdering woman who wound up in his backcountry driveway after wrong turn

[Art Fargas]

On 14 Feb 2022, Lefty Lundquist <lefty_l...@ggmail.com> posted some
news:sue63s$7iq$3...@dont-email.me:

> Two stupid Democrats trespassed, got mouthy and one was shot for her
> rudeness. The Democrat shooter voted for Kathy Hochul.

FORT EDWARD, N.Y. (AP) — A man was convicted of second-degree murder
Tuesday for fatally shooting a young woman when the SUV she was riding
in mistakenly drove into his rural driveway in upstate New York.

After deliberating for less than an hour, a jury found Kevin Monahan,
66, guilty for shooting 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis on a Saturday night
last April after she and her friends pulled into his long, curving
driveway near the Vermont border while they were trying to find another
house. Monahan was also convicted of reckless endangerment and tampering
with physical evidence.

Donald Boyajian, an attorney and spokesperson for the Gillis family,
said they were thankful for the trial’s outcome.

“Obviously it’s a just result, but a very sad time for the family,” he
said. “It doesn’t change what is going to be forever, which is the loss
of their beautiful daughter.”

The murder conviction carries a maximum sentence of 25 years to life,
which Washington County District Attorney J. Anthony Jordan said
prosecutors would be seeking at Monahan’s sentencing, scheduled for
March 1.

Gillis was killed days after the shooting of 16-year-old Ralph Yarl in
Kansas City. Yarl, who is Black, was wounded by an 84-year-old white man
after he went to the wrong door while trying to pick up his younger
brothers.

On the night of Gillis’ death, the group of friends was traveling in
caravan of two cars and a motorcycle looking for another person’s house
party, when they mistakenly turned into Monahan’s driveway in the rural
town of Hebron, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) north of Albany. They
began leaving once they realized their mistake, but Monahan came out to
his porch and fired twice from his shotgun, with the second shot hitting
Gillis in the neck as she sat in the front passenger seat of an SUV
driven by her boyfriend, authorities said.

During closing arguments earlier Tuesday, the prosecution told jurors
Monahan was motivated by irrational rage toward trespassers.

“He acted out of anger. That’s the only thing that can be inferred from
shooting at people within 90 seconds of being on his property,” said
Assistant District Attorney Christian Morris. “He grabbed his shotgun
and intended to make them leave as fast as possible and he didn’t care
if they were hurt or killed.”

Monahan and his attorney maintained the shooting was an accident
involving a defective gun.

Monahan himself took the stand in his own defense, saying he believed
the house he shared with his wife was “under siege” by intruders when he
saw the vehicles approach. He said he first fired a warning shot to
scare the group away.

He said he then tripped over nails sticking up from the porch, lost his
balance and the shotgun struck the deck. That, he said, accidentally
caused his gun to fire at the Ford Explorer carrying Gillis.

“I didn’t mean to shoot the second shot,” Monahan testified last week.
“The gun went off.”

Prosecutors also presented evidence during the trial that Monahan
claimed to have been sound asleep when police showed up at his house
later that night.

Gillis’ father, Andrew Gillis, has described his daughter as someone who
loved animals and had dreams of becoming a marine biologist or a
veterinarian.

https://apnews.com/article/wrong-driveway-shooting-new-york-gillis-monaha
n-b00206a2740a80af67e8086ef3ed75ba