Drunk Driver Withdraws Crime Lab Challenge

Driver receives lesser sentence after dropping Nassau crime lab case

An SUV driver who ran over two brothers has withdrawn a challenge that his homicide conviction was based on botched evidence at the Nassau County Police Crime Laboratory.
    
In exchange, James Farr, of Garden City, was sentenced Thursday to one year in jail. He had been facing up to four years after a jury convicted him of criminally negligent homicide.
    
His lawyer said Farr wanted closure for himself and for the victims' families.
    
Authorities said Farr was drunk when he killed Thomas and Joseph Occiogrosso in East Meadow in 2008.
    
The district attorney's spokesman, Chris Munzing, said the blood evidence was ``entirely accurate.''
    
A national accrediting group revealed problems at the lab, which was closed in February. Newsday says dozens of people charged with felonies are now contesting their cases.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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