Ludwick to Plead Guilty to Vehicular Homicide, Lawyer Says

Sean Ludwick, who was charged with vehicular homicide for the August 2015 crash in Noyac that killed his passenger, Paul Hansen, 53, will plead guilty on Aug. 15 to that and many of the other charges he faces, prosecution and defense attorneys said Tuesday.

The agreement was reached after a 21-minute conference between the two sides in the chambers of New York State Justice Fernando Camacho. Mr. Ludwick was not in the courtroom.

"He is going upstate. He is going to be there a while," Raymond Varuolo, the prosecuting attorney, said outside the courtroom after Justice Camacho set an Aug. 15 date for Mr. Ludwick to enter his plea.

While Mr. Ludwick's attorney has agreed to the deal reached with Justice Camacho, it remains contingent on Mr. Ludwick's acceptance, Mr. Hansen's brother, Robert Hansen, said after the court session. "Nothing is going to bring Paul back," he said, flanked by the his late brother's wife and two sisters. The family has been in attendance for each court date, from the time Mr. Ludwick was first arraigned on drunken driving charges in Southampton Town Justice Court on Aug. 30, 2015.

He was indicted at the end of 2015, with the grand jury adding seven felony charges, the most serious being aggravated vehicular homicide.

Mr. Ludwick, a New York City real estate developer, has been in jail since January 2016 after allegedly plotting to escape by boat from Puerto Rico while free on a $1 million bond.

Outside the courtroom on Tuesday, Robert Hansen indicated that the family will find some solace, during the allocution phase of the proceedings on Tuesday, which is part of entering a guilty plea. "We expect him to tell us what happened that night, and what the circumstances were." The prosecution has accused Mr. Ludwick of dragging Mr. Hansen from the wreckage of his 2013 Porsche after the 2 a.m. crash, then trying to drive away. Police found Mr. Ludwick about a quarter-mile away, standing beside the wrecked Porsche.