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Yorktown resident Mark Cope was sentenced to a term of between three and nine years in state prison for causing a wrong-way, head-on collision he caused while intoxicated in December 2020 that resulted in the death of an Ossining mother.
Cope, age 41, was sentenced on Friday, April 15 after pleading guilty to:
- Three counts of aggravated vehicular homicide;
- Second-degree manslaughter;
- Aggravated vehicular assault;
- Vehicular assault;
- Third-degree assault;
- Aggravated DWI;
- Two counts of DWI;
- Reckless driving.
The DA had recommended that the court impose a term of between six and 18 years in prison.
Westchester County District Attorney Mimi Rocah said that at approximately 9:07 p.m. on Dec. 23, 2020, Cope drove northbound in the southbound lane on Route 9 in Peekskill when he crashed head-on into the car driven by Ossining resident Shina McClam.
At the time of the collision, police said that Cope had a blood-alcohol content nearly three times the legal limit.
McClam, who was 32 years old at the time, died at the scene. Rocah noted that her 6-year-old daughter and 18-year-old niece were passengers in the car at the time of the crash, and both suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
“Mark Cope’s selfish decision to drive while intoxicated resulted in the needless death of a mother and put the lives of the two young passengers at great risk,” Rocah said. “Our hearts are with the surviving victims, their families, and the entire Ossining community, which united to take care of the McClam family after this senseless tragedy.”
In a victim impact statement made to the court, a surviving passenger the teenage neice said that “(her) aunt was loving, fun, flamboyant, the glue of the family.
“She did everything for everyone. An amazing soul. Finding out she was gone made me feel so much pain and yet in that moment I was so numb,” she said.
“I don’t know what you were thinking that night. What you thought was going to happen after you got into your car… You made a choice out of pleasure and fun. You destroyed a family beyond recognition.”
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