Charges have been reinstated against a Montgomery County man arrested in 2008 after a child died while riding an ATV on his property.
The case against David H. Kietzmann, 53, is now scheduled for trial in late September.
Kietzmann, of 830 Thayer Road in the town of Florida, was charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child following the Sept. 20, 2008, death of Josiah Mazurkiewicz, 8.
Police said Josiah and a 10-year-old girl were taking turns riding an all-terrain vehicle on Kietzmann’s farm when Josiah lost control and crashed. The third-grader at the Division Street School in Saratoga Springs was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital in Amsterdam and pronounced dead.
Police said Kietzmann was to blame for the accident because the youths were riding the 500cc four-wheeler on his property without helmets and without supervision.
Almost a year after he was charged, Kietzmann pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge in Florida Town Court and paid a $250 fine and $125 surcharge. The case was being handled by Assistant District Attorney John N. Clo who, along with Kietzmann’s defense attorney, William Lorman, agreed on the disposition — as did Town Justice Stephen Brown.
But Clo’s boss, Montgomery County District Attorney James “Jed” Conboy, never signed off on the deal and demanded Kietzmann either plead guilty to the misdemeanors or stand trial. Conboy filed an appeal last September in Florida Town Court.
At that time, Lorman said his arrangement with Clo was contingent on approval from the district attorney’s office within a specified period, and when that time passed, he went forward with the plea. According to a ruling dated May 2, 2011, however, Brown states that the plea offer “was withdrawn just hours before the plea was accepted on Aug. 19, 2010. The court accepted the plea bargain without the people’s consent as they had withdrew the offer in writing prior to acceptance of plea.”
Categories: Schenectady County
