Kevin Monahan, a New York man who fatally shot a woman in a car that turned into the wrong driveway, was sentenced Friday to 25 years to life for his second-degree murder conviction.
Monahan was also sentenced to 2 1/3 to 7 years for reckless endangerment to run concurrently, and 1 1/3 to 4 years for tampering with physical evidence to run consecutively.
On the night of April 15, 2023, Kaylin Gillis, 20, and her friends mistakenly pulled into Monahan’s long, dark driveway in rural Hebron, New York, while they were looking for a friend’s house, authorities said. The group of friends was traveling in two cars and a motorcycle, and Gillis was a passenger in one of the cars, driven by her boyfriend.
Monahan, 65, standing on his deck, fired at least two shots toward the group and fatally hit Gillis in the neck, authorities said.
He was convicted in January.
“The defendant’s time is the only thing that we can use to begin to set the scales of justice right,” prosecutor Chris Morris said to the judge Friday before the sentence was imposed. “How much of Kevin Monahan’s time is demanded to begin to set the injustice to just? All of it. All of his time. Every year, every month, every week, day and hour. All of his time is what justice here today demands.”
Defendant Kevin Monahan, center, is flanked by his legal defense during opening statements in his murder trial, Jan. 11, 2024, at the Washington County Courthouse in Fort Edward, N.Y.
Will Waldron/The Albany Times Union via AP
Morris said the sentence also should serve as a warning to others.
“Every person out there needs to know that you can’t murder someone because they accidentally pulled into your driveway,” he said.
“I’ve seen his remorse,” defense attorney Kurt Mausert said of his client. “He lives with knowing that because of his actions … this poor young woman is dead.”
Mausert said his heart breaks for the Gillis family and the Monahans, saying both families are “irretrievably shattered.”
ABC News’ Alexandra Faul contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.