A New York judge has sentenced a man to more than 25 years in prison after he was found guilty of murder for fatally shooting a woman who mistakenly pulled into his driveway last year while searching for a house party.
Kevin Monahan, 66, received the sentencing on March 1 after having been convicted of reckless endangerment, second-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence in the death of 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis.
“People who commit murder generally don’t recidivate a lot, they don’t commit the same crime … it’s a low rate of recidivism,” Judge Adam Michelini told Monahan before handing down the sentencing.
“But with you, I think you really could possibly do the same thing again. It’s obvious to me that you feel justified,” Michelini said to Monahan, WRGB-TV reported. “You don’t take any responsibility for the outcome of your actions.”
On April 15, 2023, in Hebron, New York, Gillis drove onto Monahan’s property looking for the correct address with no cellphone service at the time, NBC News reported.
A motorcycle and another vehicle also pulled into the driveway. Monahan testified during his trial that he felt threatened by the presence of the vehicles and the motorcycle and assumed he was being blocked in. In response, he turned his floodlights on and grabbed a 20-gauge shotgun, according to WNYT-TV.
According to Monahan, he fired off a warning shot, and he said the second shot that killed Gillis was fired accidentally after he tripped over nails on his deck, WNYT-TV reported.
Monahan appeared to express remorse during testimony, stating, “I just feel like my soul is dead. There’s just a hole in me. I took someone else’s life,” according to WNYT-TV. But the judge, who accused Monahan of lying, did not feel he was sorry.
“The first thing you do on the witness stand when you come up here and testify is you made a joke to the jury about them finally being able to see your face,”…
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