BELLPORT MAN SENTENCED TO 12.5 TO 25 YEARS IN PRISON FOR AGGRAVATED VEHICULAR HOMICIDE

(SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y.) – Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that Jordan Randolph, 43, of Bellport, was sentenced to 12.5 to 25 years in prison after a jury found him guilty in February 2023 of Aggravated Vehicular Homicide, after he fled from police at a high rate of speed and slammed into another car, killing the driver.

“This defendant is a serial drunk driver who had no regard for anyone’s life, including his own,” said District Attorney Tierney. “The fact that he was able to be out on the street with a pending charge for not using a court mandated ignition interlock device before driving is beyond comprehensible. The entire purpose of an ignition interlock device is to keep drunk drivers off the road. I hope this lengthy prison sentence provides the victim’s family with some measure of justice after such a senseless and avoidable crime.”

The evidence at trial established that on January 12, 2020, Randolph was out drinking for hours in Islandia as well as at a friend’s home in Mastic. Later that night, while extremely intoxicated, Randolph was driving a 2014 Cadillac ATS southbound on the William Floyd Parkway when he swerved into the opposite lanes of traffic at the intersection of William Floyd Parkway and Rose Executive Boulevard, near the Suffolk County Police Department’s Seventh Precinct.

A police officer who was pulling out of the precinct, saw Randolph reverse and then drive in the southbound lanes of William Floyd Parkway. The officer followed Randolph and attempted to pull him over, but Randolph refused to stop and continued driving. Randolph then made a U-turn at the intersection of William Floyd Parkway and Dawn Drive then fled from the police officer at a high rate of speed. As he continued northbound on the William Floyd Parkway, Randolph smashed into a 2015 Ford Escape driven by the victim, 27-year-old Johnathan Flores Maldonado. The collision caused the victim’s vehicle to turn over onto its roof and was thrust down the road over 500 feet. Flores Maldonado died as a result of blunt force impact injuries he sustained from the crash.

Randolph struggled with responding officers as they attempted to place him under arrest, and hurled profanities at EMT workers who were attempting to treat him. Randolph subsequently refused to submit to a blood test, but a court order was secured by law enforcement which compelled the defendant to provide a blood sample. That sample, which was collected five hours after the crash, showed Randolph’s blood alcohol concentration was a .20% BAC – more than double the legal limit. A search warrant was also obtained for blood that the defendant provided at Long Island Community Hospital approximately two hours after the crash. The results showed Randolph’s blood alcohol concentration was .23% – almost triple the legal limit.  A search of the event data recorder in Randolph’s vehicle revealed that he was travelling 137 mph seconds before crashing into the victim, who was driving 45 mph.

On February 15, 2023, Randolph was convicted after a jury trial held before Supreme Court Justice, the Honorable Richard Ambro, of the following charges:

• Aggravated Vehicular Homicide, a Class B felony;
• Manslaughter, a Class C felony;
• Assault in the Second Degree, a Class D violent felony;
• Vehicular Manslaughter in the Second Degree, a Class D felony;
• Aggravated Driving While Intoxicated, as a Class D felony;
• Operating a Motor Vehicle with .08% of .1% or More in Blood, as a Class D felony;
• Driving While Intoxicated, as a Class D felony;
• Unlawful Fleeing a Police Officer in the First Degree, a Class D felony;
• Aggravated Unlicensed Operation of a Motor Vehicle in the First Degree, a Class E felony;
• Circumvention of an Ignition Interlock Device, a Class A misdemeanor;
• Resisting Arrest, a Class A misdemeanor; and
• Reckless Driving, an unclassified misdemeanor.

  The defendant committed these crimes while he had a pending criminal charge of Circumvention of an Ignition Interlock Device, a Class A misdemeanor, in Nassau County. Installation of an ignition interlock device is a condition that may be imposed by a court during the sentencing phase of a driving while intoxicated conviction. Ignition interlock devices require a motorist to blow into an instrument that is connected to their vehicle’s engine, and prevents drivers from starting their vehicles if the device detects that the driver has been drinking alcohol.

Additionally, Randolph has a lengthy criminal history that includes 12 prior criminal convictions, six of which are felonies, and multiple prior felony and misdemeanor DWI convictions. Randolph was convicted of felony Driving While Intoxicated in both 2016 and 2018, and misdemeanor Driving While Intoxicated in 2011. Additionally, in 2003, he was sentenced to six to 12 years in prison for felony Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in or Near School Grounds. He also has prior convictions for felony assault from 1998, and attempted robbery from 1997.

On June 16, 2023, Randolph was sentenced by Judge Ambro to 12.5 to 25 years in prison. He was represented by Joseph Hanshe, Esq. and Kimberly Wall, Esq.

This case was prosecuted by Bureau Chief Carl Borelli of the Vehicular Crime Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Jacob DeLauter of the Major Crime Bureau, with investigative assistance from Donal Hughes, of the Suffolk County Police Department’s Major Case Unit.

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Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. No one is above the law.

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