Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly announced that a Syosset man pleaded guilty today to Aggravated Vehicular Homicide and related charges for an August 2023 high-speed crash in Laurel Hollow that killed a husband and wife.
Sotirios Spanos, 33, pleaded guilty today before Judge Howard Sturim to Aggravated Vehicular Homicide (a B felony); two counts of Manslaughter in the Second Degree (a C felony); two counts of Assault in the Second Degree (a D violent felony); and Driving While Intoxicated (an unclassified misdemeanor).
The defendant is due back in court on June 17, 2024, and is expected to be sentenced to 7 to 21 years in prison.
“Ismenia and Odalis Urena were a young, successful couple with two daughters and many years of happiness ahead of them, but all of that was erased when this defendant struck the Urena’s vehicle head-on that August morning and killed them,” said DA Donnelly. “Sotirios Spanos was hurtling around the curves of Northern Boulevard at 100 miles an hour while two times the legal limit for alcohol. His reckless and selfish choices orphaned two girls and shattered a family. Our thoughts are with all of Ismenia and Odalis Urena’s friends and loved ones who continue to suffer the pain of their senseless and tragic loss.”
DA Donnelly said that, on August 12, 2023, at approximately 12:31 a.m., Odalis and Ismenia Urena, both 37, were traveling in a convertible heading westbound on Northern Boulevard approaching Moores Hill Road in Laurel Hollow.
The defendant was traveling in a 2023 Acura MDX eastbound on Northern Boulevard at a high rate of speed and while intoxicated. At that time Spanos crossed into oncoming traffic, struck the front passenger side of the Urenas’ vehicle head-on, and drove over the vehicle.
According to the event data recorder inside the Acura, the defendant was driving approximately 100 miles per hour only 2.5 seconds before the collision. He began braking 1.5 seconds before impact and struck the victims’ vehicle at approximately 84.5 miles per hour.
Ismenia Urena was pronounced dead at the scene. Odalis Urena was taken to Huntington Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 1:32 a.m.
The defendant was twice the legal limit for alcohol more than three hours after the collision.
Spanos was arrested by members of the Oyster Bay Cove Police Department and Nassau County Police Department’s Homicide Squad on August 12, 2023.
The case is being prosecuted by Deputy Bureau Chief Stephanie Dellinger of the Vehicular Crimes Bureau. The defendant is represented by Steven Epstein, Esq.
