Virginia Beach, Va. - The man who killed a woman and her 12-year-old daughter in a wrong way crash on I-64 in Virginia Beach received his sentence in court on Wednesday.
Neil Lyness, 31, received 41 years in prison, which was the maximum sentence. Half of his sentence was suspended so he will serve a total of 20 years and six months in prison.
In December 2014, Lyness pleaded guilty on the first day of his trial to two counts of involuntary manslaughter for the September 2013 crash that killed 31-year-old Sandra Amaya and her daughter, 12-year-old Sophia Lopez.
Court records show Lyness had methadone and ethanol in his system after the deadly crash. The Commonwealth said Lyness took nearly double the prescribed doses of prescription medication.
After his guilty plea was entered, Lyness' defense attorney, Sonny Stallings spoke to NewsChannel 3 and said, "Basically he had a seizure as a result of this medication and then went across the road. It wasn’t certainly something he intended to do,” says Stallings. “He was on his way to an AA meeting. He has an alcohol and drug problem and he was going to a meeting. He has just talked to his sponsor on the phone.”
Lyness, who lost an arm and a leg in a previous motorcycle crash, was also severely injured in the crash.
“He actually died himself then came back to life. He was pronounced dead at the scene and then for some reason I guess God only knows, his heart started beating and he`s here now. But they actually said call it he`s dead, but then he came back,” said Stallings.
The sentencing went on for several hours and several people spoke, including the victim's family.
"Neil Lyness took away everything that was good in my life. He took away the way I look at the world," said the sister of Sandra Amaya.
Two other family members spoke as well, including Sandra's mom, Laurel Adams. She said he has no remorse for what he did.
"I was quite pleased. He showed no remorse at all. He, in fact, said he doesn't understand why he's in trouble because the car hit him on the passenger side.. Absolutely no acknowledgement whatsoever of the fact that he was on the wrong side of the freeway," she said after the sentencing.
The lack of remorse was something the Commonwealth brought up several times, playing recorded phone conversations from jail as well as a letter he wrote to his dad.
In the letter, he asked why he should feel bad, saying he’s a victim too and he’s more worried about his truck.
Lyness did apologize right before the sentencing, however, and asked the family to forgive him. He never looked at them.
Sandra's mother said she paid little attention to what he said. She said she has no hate in her heart for him because she doesn't have the time for it. As her daughter and granddaughter taught her... life is short.
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