Matthew Nemschick of Mattituck sentenced to 4 to 12 years in prison for fatal Riverhead DWI crash

A Suffolk judge on Wednesday sentenced a Mattituck man to 4 to 12 years in prison for driving drunk in a February 2021 crash that killed a pedestrian in Riverhead.

Acting State Supreme Court Justice Stephen Braslow told Matthew Nemschick, 56, he was showing leniency despite two prior DWI convictions, since the defendant has made progress treating his alcohol addiction while behind bars since last year.

“You’re getting help for the first time really in your life,” Braslow told Nemschick, whom he said looks like a different person since his initial court appearance. “One day you’ll be released and you need to not go back to this … crazy stuff.”

Prosecutors said Nemschick, who in May pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide and six other grand jury charges, was speeding and swerving down West Main Street before striking 38-year-old Alexander Lopez Guzman shortly after 10 p.m. on Feb. 11, 2021.

Immediately following the crash, Nemschick, a former electrician at the federal lab on Plum Island, attempted to rid his car of empty beer cans, officials said. More than three hours later police recorded a 0.16 blood alcohol content, double the legal limit, prosecutors said.

Assistant District Attorney Ray Varuolo said Guzman’s family members, which Braslow said includes parents and a sister, could not attend the sentencing.

“It’s still very painful for them,” Varuolo said.

Nemschick said he would like to tell them he’s sorry, “even though I know my apology cannot change things.”

“Hurting someone is not something I ever wanted to do,” said Nemschick, whose prior DWI convictions did not involve injuries to others. “I pray for them every week.”

Prosecutors had initially offered Nemschick, who faced up to 25 years in prison on the top charge, a plea deal of 6 to 18 years.

Defense attorney John Gill of Northport said he discussed with Braslow the effort Nemschick has made in his addiction recovery while he remained at the county jail awaiting the outcome of his case. Gill said Braslow had a difficult decision to make to reduce the sentence.

“You’re balancing competing interests in a case like this because you have a family of the deceased and you have a horrific crime and he’s balancing that against the character of a man who looks like he's taken advantage of a second chance,” Gill said.

Several addiction specialists working with inmates at the county jail submitted letters to the judge on behalf of Nemschick, including Colleen McKenna, director of the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department’s addiction treatment center.

Braslow said the good word of McKenna, who was visibly emotional during the sentencing, helped lead to the lighter sentence.

“When she tells me you’re doing the right thing, I believe it,” the judge said.

Nemschick said in addition to the alcohol treatment programs, he’s attended weekly church services in jail and has been bolstered by monthly visits from his children.

Braslow, as he has in other recent sentencings, called Suffolk a “broken county” facing an epidemic of drugged and drunken driving crashes. In 27 years on the bench, he said he’s “never seen this amount of killing from drugs and alcohol” on Suffolk’s roadways.

“It’s out of control,” the judge said.

In addition to the top charge, Nemschick had also pleaded guilty to manslaughter, DWI and reckless driving charges as well as tampering with evidence for dumping the beer cans out of his car.

Braslow said Nemschick’s driver’s license will be suspended for at least one year after he is released from prison if he “ever gets it back at all.”

“This will be with you for the rest of your life,” Braslow said.

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.