The man who fatally shot a young woman last year after the vehicle she was riding in mistakenly pulled into his upstate New York driveway was convicted by a jury on January 23, the Associated Press reported.
After less than an hour of deliberations, the jury convicted 66-year-old Kevin Monohan of the shooting of Kaylin Gillis, 20, in April 2023.
Gillis and her friends were traveling in two separate vehicles and a motorcycle to a house party when the SUV driven by Gillis’ boyfriend mistakenly pulled into Monohan’s driveway in Hebron, New York near the Vermont border with the other drivers following behind.
When they realized their mistake and attempted to turn around to leave the property, Monohan came out to the porch armed with a shotgun and fired two shots at the SUV, striking Gillis once in the neck.
In closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Christian Morris told the jurors that Monohan’s irrational rage toward trespassers motivated the shooting. Morris said that in his anger, Monohan did not care if he hurt or killed the passengers.
The defense maintained that the shooting was unintentional.
In his testimony, Monohan said that when he saw the vehicles approaching the house, he believed that his home was “under siege” by intruders. He said he fired the first shot as a warning to frighten them away but then tripped on nails that were sticking up from the porch floor. When he lost his balance, the shotgun struck the porch which caused it to fire. He insisted that he hadn’t intended to fire a second time.
Monohan was found guilty of second-degree murder, reckless endangerment, and tampering with physical evidence.
Attorney Donald Boyajian, a spokesman for the Gillis family, said they were gratified by the verdict. He said while the conviction would not change the fact that the family lost their daughter, it was “a just result.”
Washington County District Attorney J. Anthony Jordan said his office would be seeking the maximum sentence of 25 to life when Monohan is sentenced on March 1.
