Suffolk County, NY - February 19, 2014 - The man whose manslaughter conviction after a seven-week jury trial in 2010 was overturned earlier this year pleaded guilty this afternoon to the charge of manslaughter in the first degree, admitting he intended to cause serious physical injury and caused the death of Andrew Reister of Hampton Bays by compressing his neck during a violent confrontation in a Southampton bar.
Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said while the office was confident of earning another conviction, the victim’s family wanted to be spared the trauma of a second jury trial, and their wishes were the primary factor in the decision to accept Oddone’s guilty plea.
In overturning the conviction, the Court of Appeals ruled that Oddone’s attorney should have been allowed to challenge the recollection of a witness regarding the length of the chokehold.
The defendant will be sentenced to five years and four months in prison (the time the defendant has served in an upstate prison) and five years of post-release supervision when he is sentenced on March 19 at 2:30 in Riverhead.
Oddone, 31, waived his right to appeal his criminal conviction.
He is free in lieu of $500,000 cash bail.
Andrew Reister, 40, was formally declared brain dead on August 9, 2008, two days after the fight.