Posted at: 10/28/2009 11:02 AM | WHEC.com
Updated at: 10/28/2009 6:46 PM
By: Thalia Hayden

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Parma man sentenced in deadly Gates crash

A victim's sister is able to step above her own pain and have empathy for her brother's killer.
 
The man responsible for taking his best friend's life was sentenced today. Michael McLevy will spend the next three and a half to seven years in prison.

Earlier this month, McLevy was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and vehicular manslaughter.

The family of the victim, Anthony Mastrodonato of Spencerport, was not happy with the verdict.

Anthony Mastrodonato’s sister says she's happy McLevy got the maximum sentence today but she says it'll never bring her brother back.

“Tthere's nights I go to sleep at night and I try to go to sleep and I can't sleep…thoughts go racing in my head,” Gina Mastrodonato said.

It happened last March. McLevy drove down Spencerport Road in Gates, lost control of the car and killed his front seat passenger and best friend, Anthony Mastrodonato.

The jury found McLevy guilty of vehicular manslaughter but he was acquitted of the more serious charge of manslaughter.
 
Prosecutor Perry Duckles said, “I don't understand it and I don't necessarily agree with it but we have to accept it.”

McLevy's attorney says from the beginning, they were willing to take a plea deal, which would've given McLevy the exact same sentence he got today, but the district attorney's office chose to prosecute anyway.

McLevy's attorney said going through this trial wasn't easy for anyone. Mark Young said, “This is a bad case. This is one of the hardest cases I’ve tried.”
    
The Mastrodonatos say the family is traumatized because of their loss but through it all, Gina Mastrodonato tries to show compassion for McLevy. She said, “I do have a little sympathy, but not too much.”

The judge said because of McLevy's prior burglary conviction and his use of drugs and alcohol, she had to go with the maximum sentence of three and a half to seven years in prison.

Watch Gina Mastrodonato's entire interview

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