Kenneth Regan, of Centereach, Douglas Coudrey, of Eastport, sentenced to 40 years to life in prison in Justin Gottlieb's murder
Kenneth Regan, 25, of Centereach, left, and Douglas Coudrey, 26, of Eastport, right, appear at their sentencing in Nassau County Court in Mineola on Friday. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
Whenever anxiety got the better of Lauren LaBella, her fiance and father of her child, Justin Gottlieb, would reassure her, calming her fears that statistically speaking bad things don’t happen that often.
“I would tell him about my greatest fears,” she told the crowd that filled a Nassau County courtroom Friday morning for the sentencing of her partner’s killers. “He would say that the odds are in your favor and that it probably wouldn’t happen to you. But it did happen.”
On Jan. 14, 2020, during the 15-minute drive home from work, Kenneth Regan, 21, of Centereach, and Douglas Coudrey, 22, of Eastport, chased Gottlieb, 27, to his home in Plainview and fatally shot him.
Authorities say it’s still unclear what the argument was about. The two men, who prosecutors say have ties to the Latin Kings street gang, have also been accused of killing another man and wounding his passenger in a similar road rage shooting on I-80 in New Jersey four days later.
“It’s impossible for me to feel safe anymore after the person who made me feel safest was taken from me,” she said.
Coudrey, now 26, and Regan, now 25, who were convicted of murder and weapons charges in February, were sentenced to 40 years to life in prison by Acting Supreme Court Justice Robert Schwartz, who called the pair “violent and sadistic individuals, devoid of any humanity.”
“You are not the tough guys that you want to be,” the judge told the two men. “Yes, you are violent, but this was a cowardly crime, without justification, you shot an unarmed man from the safety of another vehicle and then you fled.”
Both men said “I maintain my innocence,” before being sentenced. Their lawyers said that they intend to appeal the jury verdict.
The murder left LaBella and Gottlieb’s family shattered.
Jeff Gottlieb, left, the father of the late Justin Gottlieb, and Lauren LaBella, Justin's fiancee, embrace outside Nassau County Court in Mineola on Friday. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
His mom, Joanne Gottlieb, had been sick in bed the day of the shooting. She said she texted him at 5:13 p.m. that day to see if he had left for work.
“The next time I saw my son, he was pounding on my front door, pleading for help, with two gunshot wounds; one in his chest and one in his leg. My husband and I have nightmares from this night. He was shot in front of our house and came running into the house bleeding everywhere. I can’t walk home without seeing my son laying on the floor bleeding out.”
She said that the experience has left her suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Every day I am confronted by triggers due to this trauma; a car backfiring, someone standing too close to me, loud noises, lack of trust for people I do not know well,” she said. “And seeing white Ford Fusions and red Ford Explorers. I literally have to make myself live day to day, just to survive.”
LaBella, now a single parent to their daughter 4-year-old Coraline, said that she had to tell her that her father was “extremely hurt and couldn’t be fixed.”
She said that she often breaks down in tears in front of her daughter over the memory of her slain partner.
Her daughter told her that another child at her school had lost a father, “So, we’re not the only ones. Why does my baby have to suffer through this? Why does my almost-5-year-old have to constantly think about death?” she said.
LaBella said that she’s determined to carry on for her daughter’s sake.
“Each day, I become a little stronger and a little better at carrying around this phantom limb,” she said. “At any moment it feels like all my progress is flying out the window, I would be lying if I didn't say that every day it takes everything I have.”
