{"id":10467,"date":"2012-07-12T12:06:41","date_gmt":"2012-07-12T16:06:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=10467"},"modified":"2012-07-12T12:06:41","modified_gmt":"2012-07-12T16:06:41","slug":"high-profile-drunken-driver-gets-60-day-jail-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=10467","title":{"rendered":"High-profile drunken-driver gets 60-day jail term"},"content":{"rendered":"

Defendant acknowledged that he wasn’t a typical first-time offender<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

By Kathleen Brady Shea<\/strong>, Managing Editor, The Times<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

A high-profile, drunken-driving defendant was sentenced yesterday to 60 days in prison.
\nChester County Court Judge William P. Mahon imposed the jail term on Sean O. O\u2019Neill, a 23-year-old Delaware County resident who<\/p>\n

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Sean O. O’Neill received a 60-day jail sentence for drunken-driving.<\/p><\/div>\n

shot and killed a 17-year-old classmate in 2006, a death that initiated a series of crime-based headlines that involved him as well as his family.<\/p>\n

Although the judge stopped short of the maximum three- to six-month penalty sought by Assistant District Attorney Marilyn M. Seide, he far exceeded the maximum-minimum term of 72 hours initially requested by defense attorney Vincent P. DiFabio.<\/p>\n

DiFabio said his client recognized that he deserved more punishment than a typical first-time, drunken-driver. As a result, DiFabio told the judge that he was seeking a slightly deferred 37-day sentence, which would enable O\u2019Neill to keep a doctor\u2019s appointment for a leg injury and also begin classes at Temple University, where he was recently accepted.<\/p>\n

After the proceeding, both sides expressed satisfaction with the judge\u2019s ruling, which included a stern lecture for O\u2019Neill before he was taken into custody.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defendant\u2019s sentence was 20 times what any first-offense DUI offender would receive,\u201d Seide said. \u201cSean O\u2019Neill earned his sentence.\u201d<\/p>\n

DiFabio said his goal was to help O\u2019Neill get his life on a positive track, which is why he wanted him to be able to start college on time. One of the judge\u2019s provisions, which the prosecution had opposed, gave O\u2019Neill the chance to accrue \u201cgood time\u201d in prison, which will enable him to reduce the sentence slightly if he behaves, DiFabio said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure he\u2019ll get out in time to begin classes, but it will be close,\u201d DiFabio said.<\/p>\n

The O\u2019Neill family\u2019s now-legendary brushes with the law began on Sept. 1, 2006, when O\u2019Neill fatally shot Scott Sheridan, his friend and Cardinal O\u2019Hara classmate, at an unchaperoned drinking party at the O\u2019Neills\u2019 former home in Willistown Township home. O\u2019Neill completed two residential juvenile treatment programs before being released in 2009.<\/p>\n

The investigation into Sheridan\u2019s death prompted a search of the O\u2019Neills’ residence that led to a federal firearms conviction for O\u2019Neill\u2019s father, Sean O. O\u2019Neill Sr., an undocumented immigrant and former Delaware County pub owner. He was deported to Ireland last year after serving an 18-month jail sentence.<\/p>\n

Another of the family’s three children, Roisin O\u2019Neill, 26, is serving a 5-to-10-year prison term for a Sept. 19, 2008, fatality. She admitted driving drunk in the wrong direction on the Blue Route in Plymouth Township, causing a crash that killed Patricia Murphy Waggoner, 63, a grandmother from Brimfield, Mass. The O\u2019Neills’ youngest child has been cited for underage drinking.<\/p>\n

In May, O\u2019Neill Jr. entered a guilty plea before Mahon, admitting that he drove drunk, careened off Westtown Road in his Cadillac Esplanade, traversed a lawn, and crashed into a garage on Thanksgiving morning.<\/p>\n

Susan Sheridan, Scott Sheridan\u2019s mother, attended the sentencing. She said that although she was pleased the judge held O\u2019Neill accountable, the justice system continues to exacerbate her pain. \u201cHe gets 60 days for DUI and nothing for killing my son,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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Defendant acknowledged that he wasn’t a typical first-time offender By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times A high-profile, drunken-driving defendant was sentenced yesterday to 60 days in prison. Chester County Court Judge William P. Mahon imposed the jail term on Sean O. O\u2019Neill, a 23-year-old Delaware County resident who shot and killed a 17-year-old […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":10482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7,1],"tags":[29,1599,1350,1596,1598,1595],"class_list":["post-10467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","category-uncategorized","tag-chester-county","tag-chester-county-court","tag-drunken-driving","tag-marilyn-m-seide","tag-sean-o-oneill","tag-vincent-p-difabio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}