A New York man has been sentenced in the murder of a 20-year-old woman who was fatally shot last year in a car that mistakenly pulled into the wrong driveway.
A judge sentenced 66-year-old Kevin Monahan the maximum of 25 years to life in prison for the April 2023 killing of Kaylin Gillis. Monahan was also sentenced for tampering with physical evidence and reckless endangerment.
A jury convicted Monahan of second-degree murder in January after less than two hours of deliberation.
The Washington County Sheriff's office said Gillis was in a car with friends on their way to a house party in Hebron, New York, when they accidentally turned into Monahan's driveway. Realizing their mistake, the driver began to turn the car around, but that's when Monahan came out on his porch and fired his shotgun toward the vehicle, fatally striking Gillis in the neck, authorities said.
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Sheriff Jeffrey Murphy told reporters that he did not know of any interaction between those inside the car and Monahan, but said it was "easy to get lost" in the area.
"Unfortunately, they drove up his driveway,” Murphy said. “It is a rural area with dirt roads. There is not a lot of cellular service or any type of internet so they were basically looking for their friend’s house and got mistaken and drove up the driveway."
While on trial, Monahan took the stand in his own defense, claiming the incident was an accident and recalled thinking his house was "under siege" by intruders. He claimed to have fired a warning shot into the air in attempt to scare the group away but then lost his balance and dropped the gun. When the weapon hit the ground, Monahan said a defect caused it to fire a second round toward the car carrying Gillis.
Prosecutors argued that Monahan acted out of anger and was motivated by his irrational animosity toward trespassers and requested the judge hand down the maximum penalty. Defense attorneys said they intend to appeal the sentencing.
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