Guilty plea in kayaker death
Reduced charge carries maximum sentence of 4 years in state prison
The Poughkeepsie woman charged with murder for her fiancé’s kayaking death on the Hudson River two years ago was allowed to plead guilty Monday to a reduced charge of criminally negligent homicide.
Angelika Graswald, 37, of Poughkeepsie, entered her plea to the felony in Orange County Court and will be sentenced to 1-1/3 to four years in state prison, said Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler.
Graswald is to be sentenced Nov. 1. She has
been in the Orange County Jail since being charged shortly after the death of Vincent Viafore, 46, meaning she could be credited for time served and released.
Had Graswald been tried for and convicted of murder, she could have been sentenced to a maximum of 25 years to life in prison.
Hoovler said the plea agreement was the result of “extensive consultation with the victim’s family.”
The prosecutor said that in pleading guilty, Graswald admitted she caused Viafore’s death by removing the plug from his kayak on April 19, 2015, off the Orange County shore. Also, the prosecutor said, Graswald admitted she knew the locking clip to Viafore’s paddle was missing, that he was not wearing a life vest or a wet suit, and that the water in the river where they were kayaking were dangerously cold and rough.
The plug missing from Viafore’s kayak was recovered from the center console of the Graswald’s car, and she was charged on April 30, 2015, with second-degree murder and manslaughter.
Authorities said at the time that Viafore’s $250,000 life insurance policy was Graswald’s motivation to kill him.
Graswald’s attorney long maintained the death was an accident, caused by high waves, cold water and alcohol.
On Monday, defense attorney Richard Portale maintained the Graswald didn’t set out to kill Viafore, and he said her plea supports the defense’s contention that what happened on the river was “not an intentional act.”
Hoovler, in a prepared statement Monday, said: “While no outcome can compensate for the loss of a beloved son, brother and uncle, this disposition will hopefully bring a measure of closure to the Viafore family. This plea ensures that the defendant will be held criminally liable for her actions. By pleading guilty, the defendant has acknowledged that Vincent Viafore’s death was not simply a tragic accident, but the result of this defendant’s criminal conduct.”
On the day of Viafore’s death, the Orange County 911 Center received a call that his kayak had capsized on the Hudson River. State police and other first responders searched the river for Viafore and eventually recovered his kayak and Graswald’s. She had been taken aboard and brought to the shore by a private vessel.
Viafore’s body was found floating in the Hudson River on May 23, 2015, near West Point.
Monday’s guilty plea makes Graswald, a Latvian who is a lawful permanent resident of the United States, liable for deportation, though that decision will be made by a federal judge, Hoovler said.