A Long Island man who admitted to huffing aerosol computer cleaner in the moments before a crash on New Year’s Eve in 2013 that killed a 63-year-old woman heading home early to avoid drunk drivers has been sentenced to prison.
James Murphy was sentenced to four to 12 years behind bars in the Dec. 31, 2013, crash in Commack that killed Herta Palma. He received a reduced sentence after pleading guilty to second-degree manslaughter and reckless endangerment earlier this year.
Murphy inhaled the aerosol cleaner just before sideswiping another car with his Chevrolet Blazer that night, and was fleeing the scene when his vehicle ran a red light and hit Palma’s, authorities say. She died soon after the crash.
The 21-year-old man told police that he huffed the cleaner, which contains nitrous oxide and can be intoxicating when inhaled, because he couldn’t smoke marijuana for a job drug test.
At Friday’s sentencing hearing, he apologized to Palma’s family.
“I can’t express how sorry I am,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of screwing up, I’m hoping the process of me going to jail will help you grieve.”
Palma, a grandmother of two, had visited one of her two sons the night of the crash and had tried to go home early to avoid any drunk drivers that may have been on the road, her family said.
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“He should get out of jail when I get to talk to my family again,” said Michael Palma, the 63-year-old’s son.
Palma’s family and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office said they are now fighting to get the aerosol recognized as an intoxicant under the state’s drunk driving laws.
Authorities were unable to charge Murphy with DWI because the agent the 21-year-old inhaled before the crash wasn’t on a list of drugs that cause impairment.
