An MSU student who crashed his car last January was convicted Friday in the death of 20-year-old MSU student Lindsey Cianciolo, who died in the accident.
A jury convicted Sandeep Sabapathy, a 20-year-old premedical student, with drunken driving causing death, a felony with a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. He also was convicted of negligent homicide, a misdemeanor with a penalty of up to two years in prison, said Steven Vitale, Sabapathy's lawyer.
Sabapathy was originally charged with second-degree murder, which carries a penalty of up to a life sentence, but was acquitted on the charge.
Sabapathy will be sentenced Feb. 22 in Oakland County Circuit Court.
Prosecutors and police said Sabapathy was drag racing his friend Steven Schafer, a Wayne State University student, in Troy on Jan. 5, 2005, when Sabapathy's car flipped over, killing Cianciolo. Sabapathy's blood alcohol content was twice the legal limit.
Sabapathy had a party at his house the night of Jan. 4, 2005, and left the party with Cianciolo to meet Schafer and some friends at a local restaurant. On their way back to the party from the restaurant, Sabapathy and Schafer attempted drag racing when Sabapathy lost control of his car, which flipped over, hitting several street signs, police said.
Schafer was charged last March with manslaughter, a 15-year felony, and negligent homicide. Schafer will be tried after Sabapathy's sentence, said the victim's father, Michael Cianciolo.
Although Vitale was glad Sabapathy was not convicted of murder, he said it's a tragedy for the families involved.
Joe Lyons, one of Cianciolo's closest friends, didn't want to comment on the conviction.
"Lindsey was my best friend, and I'm very saddened that I can't speak to her anymore," said Lyons, an MSU finance senior.
Sabapathy could not be reached for comment but addressed the issue in a poem on the Web site Facebook.com.
"To the errors of life that had occured/His friend was gone but her memory not blurred/He kept her in his heart and on his mind/The thought of her smile, kept him sane in a tough bind/He had a broken mind, body and soul/But to live his life for her was his goal," Sabapathy wrote in the poem titled "The Errors of Life."
