Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

A retired New York State Trooper convicted of killing a Bradford woman while driving drunk will start serving his prison sentence on Wednesday. David O'Brien of Allegany had been allowed to remain free pending his latest appeal, which has been denied. He had been sentenced to one to seven years in priosn. Prosecutors say O'Brien was drunk and driving the wrong way in the 2008 crash that killed Wendy Karnes on Route 219 in Cattaraugus County.

A retired state trooper from Allegany will stay out of jail for now after the State Court of Appeals granted a stay of his sentence on Thursday. This reverses last week's ruling from a Rochester appellate court that upheld the 2009 conviction of 70-year-old David O’Brien and the one- to seven-year prison sentence he was given. O’Brien was convicted of vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and misdemeanor drunken driving for going the wrong way on Route 219 and slamming into the oncoming car of Wendy Karnes of Bradford on April 26, 2008. Karnes was pronounced dead at the scene. O’Brien’s attorney is arguing that the there were errors in O’Brien’s trial.