WEST SENECA MAN INDICTED ON CRIMINALLY NEGLIGENT HOMICIDE CHARGE FOR ARGUMENT OVER FACE MASK THAT RESULTED IN DEATH OF ELDERLY BAR PATRON

Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announces that 65-year-old Donald M. Lewinski of West Seneca was arraigned this morning before Erie County Court Judge Sheila A. DiTullio on an indictment charging him with one count of Criminally Negligent Homicide (Class “E” felony).

It is alleged that on Saturday, September 26, 2020, at approximately 7:45 p.m., the defendant and an elderly man argued inside a bar on Southwestern Boulevard in the Town of West Seneca. The argument allegedly involved the defendant not adhering to the face mask requirement while inside the establishment. The defendant allegedly pushed the victim, causing him to fall backwards and hit his head on the floor.

The victim, 80-year-old Rocco E. Sapienza of West Seneca, was taken to ECMC where he died from his injuries several days later. His cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma to the head.

Lewinski is scheduled to return on Wednesday, May 26, 2021 at 4:00 p.m. for a phone pre-trial conference. Judge DiTullio set bail at $10,000 and continued previous release conditions set by West Seneca Town Court Justice Shannon Filbert that prohibits the defendant from entering any bar or establishment that serves alcohol.

If convicted on all charges, Lewinski faces up to four years in prison.

As are all persons accused of a crime, the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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The Federal Bureau of Prison official listing on Monday showed Navarro is set to be released on July 17, according to its online inmate tracker. The date, first reported by CBS correspondent Scott MacFarlane, is an initial record of when he's set for release and it could change.

The Republican Convention begins in Milwaukee on July 15.

The Bureau of Prisons record shows Navarro's inmate number at a low-security federal correctional facility in Miami is 04370-510.

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Navarro was sentenced to four months in prison after he refused to comply with a subpoena from the House Select Jan. 6 Committee. The former trade adviser claimed then-President Donald Trump invoked executive privilege to prevent him from testifying.

If Navarro is freed on the set date, he would miss most of the Republican convention, which begins on July 15. But he could attend the convention's final day on July 18.

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