WARSAW, N.Y. — A Wyoming County man pleaded guilty Thursday to a crash last April that took the life of his 20-year-old passenger.
Michael A. Conrad, 21 of Eagle, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, assault and driving while ability impaired by the combined influence of drugs.
New York State Police responded to an accident to Pleasant Valley Rd. on April 14 in the Town of Wethersfield. When they got there, a passenger in Conrad's car, 20-year-old Cori Lynn Shearing, was already dead.
An reconstruction expert determined Conrad was driving at a speed of 97 mph and lab tests showed he was also under the influence of marijuana and ecstasy at the time of the crash.
“Cori Shearing had a promising future ahead of her," said Wyoming County District Attorney Donald O’Geen. He added that she had graduated from Letchworth High School in 2018 in the top of her class. She was attending Hilbert College.
"Her life was taken as a result of the choices that Michael Conrad made on April 14, 2020. This is a needless and senseless loss of life because of Michael Conrad’s choices to get behind the wheel of a car while impaired by drugs and drive that car in an extremely reckless manner”, said O’Geen.
Conrad faces anywhere from five to 15 years behind bars when sentenced.
