Ridge man sentenced in Hicksville motel murder

A man who beat his victim to death and left him hogtied in a Hicksville motel room will serve 23 years to life in prison, Nassau prosecutors said Friday.

Vincent Dalton, 52, of Ridge, had pleaded guilty on Jan. 31 to a second-degree murder charge in the slaying of Erik O’Connell, 39, of East Meadow, who died of blunt force trauma to his head, said District Attorney Madeline Singas.

Dalton’s Garden City-based attorney, Brian Carmody, declined to comment.

Security video showed Dalton and O’Connell entering and leaving The Headliner Bar in Hicksville on Nov. 18, 2016, Singas said.

Surveillance video then captured the two men entering a motel room at the Econo Lodge, located about half-mile away from the bar, she said in a statement.

Early the next morning, Dalton left the motel with what prosecutors said they believed were O’Connell’s possessions, including a computer, a debit and a credit card, and other items. Days later, police arrested Dalton on a murder charge, after he Dalton tried to use the victim’s charge cards at McDonald’s and a deli in Brentwood, Singas said.

“This defendant demonstrated a disturbing disregard for human life when he bludgeoned another man to death over a debit card,” Singas said.