Judge Rules Early Thursday Morning
Am enormously pleased Lavena Sipes proudly announced Thursday morning from the Long Island courtroom that there would be no early parole for Maureen Lambert. Lambert, while high on heroin ran down and killed her beautiful daughter Courtney on Main Street in Smithtown in the fall of 2009. She was twelve at the time.
Smithtown Today would like to thank every single reader who emailed for the form letter to the Judge or downloaded it and mailed it. That letter demanded Lambert stay behind bars, that she be denied early parole. “The right thing was done here, thanks to all of you who helped with your opposition,” said a grateful Sipes.
Hundreds of you wrote and it made an enormous difference, a significant legal one but more so it let the Sipes family know that Smithtown still cares for them. However, all the letters weren’t just from Smithtown. Some of you who wrote knew the family, some of you never met them or didn’t even reside in Smithtown, some of you were parents who had children the same age and were saddened and outraged. One poor woman saw the accident and spoke of her haunting memories and many were from Texas where the Sipes now reside (their home state).
The Sipes family were new to the community when the tragedy occurred, just relocating from Texas and Smithtown rallied around them after the tragedy. A roadside memorial is still in place on 25/25A where Lambert, then 25 sped through downtown Smithtown high on one of the strongest illegal drugs known to man.
LAMBERT SENTENCE WAS LENIENT BECAUSE SHE LEFT SCENE
Lambert’s early release should not have be an option for this woman who killed Sipe’s daughter. She said moments before she hit Courtney, by her own admission in court, Maureen Lambert purchased heroin 1.5 miles away. She injected the heroin and proceeded to drive down Main Street in the middle of the day in a pedestrian heavy area in excess of 60 mph.
“Maureen Lambert then left the scene, she evaded the police for 26 hours until the heroin could no longer be detected in her bloodstream,” she added.
Lambert already has the benefit of receiving a much lighter sentence than she should have because she was driving impaired. Because she left the scene of the accident and avoided police for 26 hours she evaded a sentence of up to 25 years, possibly more (because the drugs could not be detected – despite her admittance).
CHANGES WERE MADE ON MAIN STREET
Immediate changes went into place following Sipes death. Mark Mancini runs an Architect firm on Main Street and is also the President of the Smithtown Chamber of Commerce. He hopped on board immediately with state legislators and some local leaders and they got right to work. “A fence was put up immediately after Courtney was hit as a quick fix (to force people to cross at lights), he said. It must be noted that Sipes and her daughter, however, were crossing at the light/crosswalk.
Like most Smithtown residents and friends of the Sipes family Mancini was very happy about the Judge’s decision. “Unfortunately, I think there a feeling that she will hit a minimum (sentence) nonetheless but it is good news for now,” he added. He added that it is unfortunately that the legal process will probably be a year after year procedure for the forever grieving family.
Sipes and Mancini won a Vision Long Island award for their arduous and rapid work to create a more walkable community. They were given that prestigious award at the annual Smart Growth Awards ceremony with well over a thousand people in attendance including every politician on Long Island as well as both County Executives.
Sipes took the microphone when she received her award and spoke about her daughter and that day. The silence was deafening. Many grown men were seen with tears in their eyes and/or getting choked up; including Councilmen Eddie Wehrheim and Bob Creighton who came to support the family. They came to support all the families who lost a loved one on Main Street who were also present including the Byrnes family of Kings Park Vision Long Island is a non-profit in Northport that promotes Smart Growth and is run by Eric Alexander, a new columnist for Smithtown Today.
“Listen it’s a state road but it’s also Main Street in Smithtown, it’s the responsibility of us all of us to make it safer, the changes we made are only the tip of the iceberg,” explained an optimistic Mancini.
Several proposals were made when Team Sipes met with the New York State Department of Transportation (D.O.T.) including putting an isle in the middle. There are now light countdowns and red lights at night so you can’t drag race through town, explained the Architect and community activist.
“Walkable communities have both vehicular and pedestrian traffic, it’s getting both to work, we have a long way to go; we need roundabouts and islands,” he insisted. He says he believes the D.O.T. did as much as they could with the budget they had at the time. “No one from the town has pushed it further that’s the negative part,” lamented Mancini. However, he said the positive component is that we are going on four years now since the road was restriped. “There have been accidents but they have been broken bones, you haven’t heard much of them,” he added. He said we lost six precious lives prior and one was too many. “There is still speeding on the roads – we must press on,” he ended.
Sipes said she, her husband and son understand Lambert is eligible for conditional parole after 2/3 of her sentence is served. That will be November, 2017 after 8 of her 12 years are served. “What we hope to accomplish at this time and until at least November, 2017 is that any other considerations for parole be denied,” said her mother who is disgusted by the concept. “We want to see her serve her full 12 years,” said the grieving mother.
But Thursday August 13th, 2015 is a special day for both the Sipes family and every single person who supported them and who wrote to the Judge. Sipes said they made a big difference. Smithtown Today will be forever grateful to our readers who cared enough and took the time to write those letters.