Man convicted in double-fatal Thruway crash

PHOTOGRAPHER: Marc Schultz

Tyler Pascuzzi exits an Albany County courtroom at the Albany Judicial Center on March 28, 2016.

ALBANY — Tyler Pascuzzi was drunk when he drove his vehicle at more than 150 mph and caused a Guilderland Thruway crash that killed his two passengers, a jury found Wednesday.

The jury convicted Pascuzzi, 26, of Coxsackie, of aggravated vehicular homicide after less than day’s deliberations, Albany County District Attorney’s officials said.

In finding Pascuzzi guilty, the jury rejected defense contentions that he wasn’t the driver. He is to be sentenced in April, when he faces a term of 8 1/3 to 25 years in state prison.

The July 4, 2014, crash happened when Pascuzzi’s vehicle slammed into a Schenectady man’s car and then into the back of a semitrailer. The crash killed both passengers in Pascuzzi’s car: Cody J. Veverka, 23, of South Cairo, Greene County and Alicia M. Tamboia, 24, of Dutchess County. Brian T. Miller Jr., who drove the car Pascuzzi’s vehicle initially hit, wasn’t seriously hurt.

The crash ejected all three occupants of Pascuzzi’s vehicle. Pascuzzi’s defense argued that Veverka was driving at the time of the crash. His legal team said the presence of Veverka’s DNA on the driver’s side of the vehicle, including on the vehicle’s key, proved Veverka was driving, and they argued that investigators rushed to judgement against Pascuzzi.

Prosecutors, however, argued that only Pascuzzi could have been driving the car, which he owned. In fact, Pascuzzi admitted as much both at the crash scene and at the hospital, prosecutor Michael Shanley argued in opening statements last week.

Prosecutors also noted Veverka’s DNA was found elsewhere in the car.

Blood tests showed Pascuzzi’s blood alcohol content to be 0.18 percent at the time of the crash, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08, Shanley said. Damage to the car, as well as injuries inflicted on Veverka, showed Veverka to have been in the front passenger seat, Shanley said.

Shanley and Mary Tanner-Richter prosecuted the case. Pascuzzi was defended by attorneys Michael McDermott and Steve Coffey. Judge Thomas Breslin presided.