Mom of teen killed in DWI crash slams plea deal

The mother of a 15-year-old boy struck and killed in Hampton Bays last year by a drunken driver said she would have more easily accepted the defendant going free after a trial than the six-month plea deal offered by prosecutors.

Joseph Marino's mother and a group of about 10 supporters stood outside the Riverhead court complex Monday chanting "Justice for Joe!" They plan to protest there every day until Thursday, the day Caroline Goss is scheduled to be sentenced to 6 months in jail after pleading guilty to vehicular manslaughter.

"Six months is never a suitable sentence for taking away a life," Dorothy Marino said. "I was a stay-at-home mom. I got up every morning with Joe. Now, I wake up and I'm lost. I don't know where to start my day."

If convicted of the original charges - driving while intoxicated and endangering the welfare of a child, both misdemeanors - Goss would have faced up to a year in jail. If charges were upgraded by a grand jury to include vehicular manslaughter, she would have faced a maximum of 2 to 7 years if convicted.

Joseph Marino, the youngest of two boys, wasn't embarrassed to tell his mother he loved her. "He would give me hugs and kisses right in front of his friends," Dorothy Marino, of Hampton Bays, said, adding that he loved playing Guitar Hero and was an avid singer.

He was riding his bike on Ponquogue Avenue in August when Goss, 34, who was drunk and driving a sport utility vehicle with her 6-year-old son inside, crashed into the teen from behind, police said.

A spokesman for the Suffolk district attorney's office said evidence shows the teen swerved into traffic and there was no evidence that Goss was speeding, weaving or driving on the shoulder. Prosecutors believed statements from teenagers who witnessed the crash, along with an accident reconstruction, would make it extremely difficult to obtain a conviction after a trial, said spokesman Robert Clifford.

"The witness statements and the evidence from the accident investigation, left us with no alternative," Clifford said.

But Dorothy Marino said she is frustrated prosecutors didn't try. "It just felt like a slap in the face," she said. "We'd rather see it go to court and her be exonerated . . . than accept six months."

As part of her sentence, Goss is to be on probation for 5 years and will be subject to drug and alcohol conditions, Clifford said. If she fails a test, she could go to prison for 7 years.

"It's a difficult position for the DA to be in," said Steven Wilutis, a veteran defense attorney and former chief trial prosecutor in Suffolk.

"You're dealing with a distraught family. But you have to prove that the vehicle was driven erratically because of the intoxication."

"The jury is told they can't consider emotion," Wilutis, of Miller Place, said. "They have to try it on the cold facts of the case."

Goss' attorney could not be reached Monday. A woman who identified herself as Goss' mother said they had no comment.

With Carl MacGowan