A Babylon man was convicted Wednesday of speeding while drunk and causing a crash that killed a teenager in her hometown of Lindenhurst two years ago, but was acquitted of a murder in the case.
A Suffolk County jury found Michael Grasing guilty of vehicular homicide, manslaughter, leaving the scene of an accident, driving while intoxicated, failure to stay in a designated lane and speeding. He was found not guilty of second-degree murder by depraved indifference.
“The death of the witness who warned the defendant to slow down or he’d kill someone deprived the jury of that critical testimony,” Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said.
Prosecutors said the 34-year-old man had a blood alcohol level of 0.32 percent, four times the legal limit, when he rear-ended 18-year old Brittney Walsh’s car, which then flip multiple times on Montauk Highway on June 24, 2012.
The victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene, had graduated from high school two days before her death.
Grasing tried to flee the scene, continuing down the highway, mowing down several traffic signs and narrowly missing pedestrians before he slammed into a pole at 16th Street.
He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 5 before Judge Mark Cohen. He faces up to 25 years in prison on the homicide conviction.
