Ex-Marine guilty of lesser charge in brothers' deaths

A Nassau County jury Friday acquitted James Farr of second-degree manslaughter - the most serious charge he faced - but convicted the ex-Marine of criminally negligent homicide for driving the car that plowed into brothers Thomas and Joseph Occhiogrosso in East Meadow last year.

Jurors also convicted Farr, 34, of Garden City, of aggravated driving while intoxicated and driving while intoxicated. They returned the verdict about 3:15 p.m. on their third day of deliberations.

Farr choked up as his attorney, Greg Grizopoulos of Rockville Centre, led him out of the courtroom. He faces a maximum of 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison on the conviction for criminally negligent homicide when he is sentenced by Judge David P. Sullivan on Jan. 14.

Until then, he remains free on $350,000 bail.

Had Farr been convicted of the manslaughter charges, he would have served a maximum of 5 to 15 years in prison.

Members of the jury left the courthouse quickly and could not be reached for comment.

Prosecution and defense lawyers said after the trial that jurors separated the fact that Farr had drunk alcohol to the point of intoxication - he had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.18 percent some four hours after the crash - from the deaths of Thomas Occhiogrosso, 27, of Riverhead, and Joseph Occhiogrosso, 28, of East Meadow. The legal blood-alcohol limit is 0.08 percent.

"This was a DWI and an accident, not a DWI that caused an accident," Grizopoulos said.

That is, while prosecutor Matthew Lampert established the fact that Farr was intoxicated at the time, jurors apparently did not believe the drinking itself caused the fatal crash, an argument put forth by Farr's attorneys.

"I'm very sorry," Farr said as he joined his family outside of the courtroom in Mineola, his eyes red and teary.

Grizopoulos said he was pleased the jury acquitted Farr on the most serious charges.

"He really felt horrible since the day this happened," Grizopoulos said. "He's shown nothing but remorse from the beginning."

Lampert said he accepted the jury's verdict and said the case was unfortunate.

But members of the Occhiogrosso family were visibly upset as they hugged and consoled each other in the halls of the courthouse.

"We're very disappointed," said Annmarie Karazia, a sister of the brothers. "We don't understand this."

Prosecutors say the Ochiogrosso brothers were crossing Hempstead Turnpike when they were struck about 4:15 a.m. on Aug. 23, 2009, as Farr drove his BMW from a bar in East Meadow, where all three men had been drinking. They did not know each other.

Farr had completed three tours of duty in Iraq. Joseph Occhiogrosso, a Navy veteran, had served two tours in Iraq.