Modified: October 9, 2014 2:05pm
Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita, III announces that 36 year-old Jeffrey S. Kassman of 46 Niagara Falls Boulevard in the Town of Tonawanda, pleaded guilty as charged to three counts of Feloniously Driving While Intoxicated and three counts of Aggravated Unlicensed Operation of Motor Vehicle in the First Degree before State Supreme Court Justice Penny M. Wolfgang. These are the highest charges for which the defendant could have been convicted had he gone to trial. In other words, Kassman did not receive a so-called plea bargain and was prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
On November 28, 2013, at approximately 5:25 in the morning in the Town of Tonawanda, Kassman was observed inside a vehicle that was illegally parked and had its engine running. Kassman was visibly intoxicated and admitted to drinking excessively. Because of a prior DWI conviction and license revocation, the police charged Kassman with Felony DWI and Aggravated Unlicensed Operation of a Motor Vehicle in the 1st Degree. The court released Kassman on his own recognizance and failed to notify the District Attorney’s Office of his arrest until he was arrested five months later for the same offenses.
On April 5, 2014, the Town of Tonawanda Police were notified of an erratic driver whose vehicle had struck a parked car. The suspect vehicle was located fifteen minutes later. Kassman was slumped over the steering wheel and passed out. Kassman’s car also had front end damage and a missing hub cap that was matched to the hub cap found at the accident scene. Kassman admitted that he had been drinking and was intoxicated. For the second time in five months, Kassman was arrested for Feloniously Driving While Intoxicated, Aggravated Unlicensed Operation of Motor Vehicle in the First Degree, as well as Leaving the Scene of a Property Damage Accident. This time, the court set bail at a whopping $500.
In a shocking and unforeseeable development, six weeks later Kassman was caught drinking and driving and without a license in the Town of Tonawanda. On May 23, 2014 at 3:29 in the morning, Kassman was pulled over for having no license plate lamp and was visibly intoxicated. He was--for the third time in seven months--charged with Felony DWI and AUO in the First Degree.
Upon the People’s motion, Kassman has been remanded into the custody of the Erie County Sheriff. He faces a maximum prison term of 12 years when he is sentenced on October 8, 2014 by Justice Wolfgang.
The case was successfully prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Robin J. Deubler who is assigned to DA Sedita’s Vehicular Crimes Bureau.