Auburn, NY - Acting District Attorney Brittany Grome Antonacci announced the sentencing today in the case involving a fatal crash on Feb. 8, 2021 at 3:14 p.m. on State Route 31 in the Town of Mentz, in which Michael Maltese, of Weedsport, was killed.
TRISTAN HOPE, 25, of the Town of Throop, was sentenced to an indeterminate term of 4 to 12 years in prison this morning on his conviction for Manslaughter in the Second Degree, in violation of Penal Law Section 125.15[1], a Class C Felony, arising out of his arrest on March 24, 2021. He pled guilty to that charge on May 3, 2022.
During his guilty plea, HOPE admitted that he was aware of and consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk of causing this fatal crash when he operated a motor vehicle after ingesting Heroin laced with Fentanyl, as well as took his focus off of the road for a significant period of time, nearly striking additional vehicles. He crossed the center line of the road where his truck struck the victim’s truck head-on in the eastbound (Maltese’s) lane. The 52-year-old victim, Michael Maltese, was a husband, father, grandfather, and a proud employee of the NYS Department of Corrections for 26 years. He was driving home from work when he was struck and killed.
The victim’s daughter, mother, and sister, each spoke during sentencing. Senior Assistant DA Diane Adsit, who handled the case, stated “While this sentence will not bring Mike back to his family, we hope that the opportunity to address the defendant and the resolution of this case brings them some closure. We want to thank the Cayuga County Sheriff’s Department, the New York State Police Collision Reconstruction Unit, and the Onondaga County Medical Examiner’s Office, for all of their work and assistance in this case.”