Cordes gets prison sentence in Skaneateles Lake fatal boating accident

By: The Associated Press

Wednesday, May 14, 2008 12:02 PM EDT

SYRACUSE -- A 32-year-old man has been sentenced to 3 1/3 to 10 years in prison for a drunken boating crash in the Finger Lakes that killed a Virginia police officer and his girlfriend.
Under a plea bargain, Craig Cordes of Onondaga pleaded guilty last month to vehicular manslaughter for the July 8 crash. Cordes was boating on Skaneateles Lake after a night of bar-hopping when he crashed into another boat, killing John Kelly and Heather Wilkins of Richmond, Va.

Police say Cordes and his friends left without helping Kelly and Wilkins and didn't contact authorities.

At Wednesday's sentencing, Onondaga County Judge Anthony Aloi said lawmakers should pass legislation making it a crime for anyone in a vehicle -- not just the driver -- to leave the scene of a crash.

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