Vehicular Homicide Charges for Ludwick
Sean P. Ludwick, who is accused of being drunk when he crashed his Porsche in Noyac on Aug. 30, killing his passenger, Paul Hansen, was indicted by a grand jury on Dec. 16 on 13 criminal charges, including vehicular homicide, manslaughter, and drunken driving in a fatal accident.
The indictment was unsealed Monday in the Central Islip courtroom of New York State Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho. Mr. Ludwick will be formally arraigned on Jan. 6 in Central Islip.
Five of the charges he faces are felonies. According to Robert Clifford, spokesman for District Attorney Thomas Spota, if convicted on only the two most serious charges — each variations on aggravated vehicular homicide — it is likely that he would be sentenced to consecutive terms in state prison with a possible sentence of 10 2/3 to 32 years.
Police say Mr. Ludwick, 43, left his passenger’s body on the side of the road just yards from Mr. Hansen’s house on Rolling Hills Court East.
The top charge is aggravated vehicular homicide in a fatal accident where the driver had a blood alcohol level of over .18 percent. This charge may well have been the one that caused a delay in presenting the case to a grand jury: Mr. Ludwick’s blood was drawn several hours after the crash, meaning Mr. Spota’s office would have to calculate, based on the number it received, what the actual alcohol level in Mr. Ludwick’s blood was at the time of the crash to the satisfaction of the grand jury.
There are two other charges of aggravated vehicular homicide, according to court records, because within the past 10 years Mr. Ludwick had pleaded guilty to driving with ability impaired by alcohol. Though the prior charge was a reduction from misdemeanor drunken driving, which he was originally accused of, its presence in his history triggered the elevated charges.
He is also charged with manslaughter for allegedly recklessly causing Mr. Hansen’s death.
Among the other eight charges are several misdemeanors, including drunken driving and reckless driving.
Mr. Ludwick, a New York real estate developer, is free after posting a $1 million bond two days after his arrest.
Mr. Hansen’s family released a statement after learning of the indictment. “We are very thankful for the district attorney’s office’s investigation and presentations of the evidence to the grand jury. District Attorney Thomas Spota and his staff have worked extremely hard on behalf of our family and the charges brought evidence of just that,” they wrote. The family of Mr. Hansen, who was 53 and had two young sons, filed a civil suit against Mr. Ludwick in October.