{"id":4257,"date":"2012-07-10T12:03:29","date_gmt":"2012-07-10T16:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=4257"},"modified":"2012-07-10T12:03:29","modified_gmt":"2012-07-10T16:03:29","slug":"sentence-debated-for-high-profile-drunk-driver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=4257","title":{"rendered":"Sentence debated for high-profile drunk-driver"},"content":{"rendered":"

Both sides strongly disagree on the length of Sean O. O’Neill’s jail term<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

By Kathleen Brady Shea<\/strong>, Managing Editor, The Times<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

A high-profile, drunken-driving defendant who will be sentenced tomorrow in Chester County Court has inflamed passions on both<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Sean O. O’Neill will be sentenced tomorrow in Chester County Court for a highly-publicized drunken-driving offense.<\/p><\/div>\n

Sean O. O’Neill will be sentenced tomorrow for a highly-publicized, drunk-driving offense in Chester County Court.
\nsides.<\/p>\n

In pre-sentence memorandums, Assistant District Attorney Marilyn M. Seide and defense attorney Vincent P. DiFabio expressed divergent views on the proper punishment for Sean O. O\u2019Neill Jr., a 23-year-old Delaware County resident who shares a proclivity for generating crime-based headlines with other family members.<\/p>\n

The family\u2019s brushes with the law began on Sept. 1, 2006, when O\u2019Neill fatally shot Scott Sheridan, his friend and Cardinal O\u2019Hara classmate, at an unchaperoned drinking party at the O\u2019Neills\u2019 former home in Willistown Township home. Although O\u2019Neill Jr. was charged as an adult, DiFabio successfully argued that he belonged in juvenile court, where he completed two residential treatment programs before being released in 2009.<\/p>\n

The investigation into Sheridan\u2019s death prompted a search of the O\u2019Neills’ residence that led to a federal firearms conviction for Sean O. O\u2019Neill Sr., an undocumented immigrant and former Delaware County pub owner. He was deported to Ireland last year after serving an 18-month jail sentence.<\/p>\n

Another of the family’s three children, Roisin O\u2019Neill, 26, is serving a 5-to-10-year prison term for a Sept. 19, 2008, fatality. She admitted driving drunk in the wrong direction on the Blue Route in Plymouth Township, causing a crash that killed Patricia Murphy Waggoner, 63, a grandmother from Brimfield, Mass. The O\u2019Neills’ youngest child has been cited for underage drinking.<\/p>\n

In May, O\u2019Neill Jr. entered a guilty plea before Judge William P. Mahon, admitting that he drove drunk, careened off Westtown Road in his Cadillac Esplanade, traversed a lawn, and crashed into a garage on Thanksgiving morning.<\/p>\n

In her memorandum, Seide argued that O\u2019Neill deserved a three- to six-month sentence in the aggravated range. She cited the \u201cbreak\u201d he got by being adjudicated as a juvenile, pointing out that O\u2019Neill\u2019s familial background was relevant because it highlighted O\u2019Neill\u2019s failure to learn.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mere fact that the defendant continues to drink alcohol in light of Scott Sheridan\u2019s death and his own family situation illustrates his complete and utter disregard for the potential danger of that act,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

Seide suggested O\u2019Neill Jr. is \u201cincredibly fortunate that he isn\u2019t figuratively standing before this court in his older sister\u2019s shoes.\u201d With a blood-alcohol level of 0.258 \u2013 more than three times the legal limit – O\u2019Neill traveled with enough speed \u201cto drive through a garage wall, total one vehicle, damage a second\u201d and terrify the sleeping homeowners, who had planned to host a holiday dinner later that day.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of the very public nature of the O\u2019Neill family\u2019s criminal past,\u201d Scott Sheridan\u2019s mother, Susan Sheridan, is forced to relive her son\u2019s death \u201cwhen an O\u2019Neill gets arrested,\u201d Seide wrote, adding that Susan Sheridan may address the court.<\/p>\n

DiFabio\u2019s sentencing memorandum labeled Seide\u2019s assertions \u201chighly prejudicial and irrelevant,\u201d accusing her of attempting to inflame the passion of the court \u201cto impose a sentence which is far beyond what is appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

DiFabio took issue with Seide\u2019s contention that O\u2019Neill received a \u201cbreak\u201d when he was treated in the juvenile system, asserting that the judge simply followed the law. He said O\u2019Neill has taken responsibility for his actions and is currently participating in \u201cintensive outpatient therapy\u201d to deal with depression and other issues.<\/p>\n

As for Susan Sheridan, DiFabio wrote: \u201cThe defense objects to her testifying at sentencing. She is not a victim in this case.\u201d<\/p>\n

A fair sentence is the mandatory-minimum term of 72 hours in jail, DiFabio argued. He suggested that anything more would not only be inappropriate, it would have a \u201cdevastating effect\u201d on O\u2019Neill\u2019s nearly 3-year-old son, a special-needs child who relies on O\u2019Neill for care and financial support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Both sides strongly disagree on the length of Sean O. O’Neill’s jail term By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times A high-profile, drunken-driving defendant who will be sentenced tomorrow in Chester County Court has inflamed passions on both Sean O. O’Neill will be sentenced tomorrow for a highly-publicized, drunk-driving offense in Chester County Court. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,1],"tags":[761,871,873,872,869,870],"class_list":["post-4257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","category-uncategorized","tag-drunken-driving","tag-marilyn-m-seide","tag-roisin-oneill","tag-scott-sheridan","tag-sean-o-oneill","tag-vincent-p-difabio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}