ALBANY COUNTY — Justice came hobbling home for the family of Lisa Sperry on April 24, when Sperry’s killer, Andrew Gibson, was sentenced by an Albany County judge to a maximum of 32 years in prison, nearly two years after he took Sperry’s life in a drunken crash, as part of plea deal that Sperry’s family said they never agreed to. 

The total sentence combines the consecutive sentences for aggravated vehicular homicide, which ranges between 8⅓ and 25 years, and bail-jumping, which ranges between 2⅓ and seven years.  

The sentence does not, however, take into account Gibson’s extensive criminal history, which the Albany County District Attorney’s Office had tried to use to deem Gibson a persistent felony offender, which would have opened the door to a life sentence. The office had abandoned that effort in favor of the plea deal for unclear reasons. 

As such, Sperry’s sister, Laura Ingelston, who has been openly critical of the district attorney’s office and justice system at large since the crash, did not feel much in the way of catharsis after the sentencing. Instead, she felt just simple relief that the long, logistical complication of back-and-forth trips to Albany for court appearances — which, to her, rarely seemed to reflect the huge impact her sister’s death had on the family — was finally over.

Aside from the family’s three victim-impact statements, all of which were relatively short, Ingleston said after the sentencing that the family never got their say in the process. 

“We were never allowed to say anything in court,” she told The Enterprise, adding that, whenever family members spoke to the district attorney’s staff directly, they were “just ignored.”

“Court went on exactly how they told us it would happen, and that was it,” she said just after the sentencing. 

Ingelston was particularly annoyed with Assistant District Attorney Mary Tanner-Richter announcing at the sentencing hearing that the plea deal was something the family had agreed to, which Ingleston said is not true. 

“No, we didn’t get a say on that,” she said. “We were just told, ‘This is what we’re going to do.’ No matter what we said, ‘This is what we’re going to do. This is it.’ I’m relieved not to have to go through that anymore.” 

Through a spokesperson, District Attorney David Soares told The Enterprise that Gibson’s sentence is the maximum allowed “without a Predicate Felon designation. That sentence is a testament to the work and dedication of police and prosecutors involved in this case. However, vehicular crimes are deemed non-violent by statute, which limits the sentencing range. Our office has at all times informed Lisa’s family of our intentions, and developments with court proceedings. 

“Understandably,” he went on, “no amount of prison time will eliminate the pain and loss experienced by the Sperry family. While the results may seem objectionable at times, it is the responsibility of this Office to seek justice within the confines of the law.”

At this point, the only foreseeable thing that will prolong Gibson’s legal saga is an appeal, which he told Judge Andra Ackerman he intends to file. 

Ackerman warned him that an appeal would allow the district attorney’s office another attempt to brand him a persistent felon, which he said he understood. 

The hearing

Gibson’s sentencing hearing was efficient and highly procedural, with the attorneys — Tanner-Richter for the prosecution and Martin Bonventre for the defense — pummeling through necessary items like ensuring that different memorandums were accurate, before moving on to statements from Gibson and members of Sperry’s family. 

Where the two camps diverged, Ackerman quickly came down on the side of the prosecution. 

For instance, the Sperry family had requested that photos of Lisa Sperry be sent to the Department of Corrections, so that they would be on file when Gibson was being reviewed for parole. Bonventre had taken a long pause before arguing against this request, saying that he was in an “awkward position” because he and his client were “sensitive” to the damage caused by Gibson’s crime, but felt that including photos would be redundant. 

Ackerman allowed the inclusion, stating that it would help give the Department of Corrections a more complete picture of Gibson’s impact. 

Bonventre also disagreed with various media organizations recording the hearing because, he argued, Gibson’s safety was at risk because of this, and that Gibson had already received threats. Ackerman continued to allow media presence. 

A notable addition to the record made by the prosecution was that, although Gibson had made claims in the past that he was substance-free and unemployed at certain times, they had proof that he had been employed as a manager at a business in the region and that text messages, jail-call records, and testimony from the girl who called the police on him while he was a fugitive revealed that he was not sober during the period he had claimed to be. 

Statements

Ingelston was the first to read her victim-impact statement, which she told The Enterprise before the hearing she had written 50 times. 

She described the hurt and anger the family is still experiencing since the May 2021 crash, and said that her sister “paid the ultimate price” for Gibson’s behavior. 

Tanner-Richter read the final two statements from the family, provided by Sperry’s husband, Phil, and Sperry’s niece. 

Because he has suffered two strokes, Phil Sperry requires round-the-clock care, which, until Lisa Sperry’s death, was provided mostly by his wife. He wrote in his statement that, although he wasn’t in the minivan with his wife and two sons the day of the crash, his “life ended that day,” as he lost his future and any hope for happiness. 

He recounted how his wife would sing and dance for him to cheer him up as he dealt with his own difficult circumstances, and that these happy moments of his life would never occur again. 

“You took my life away that day,” he said. 

Sperry’s niece focused on the fact that all the pain and suffering of the family was caused by Gibson’s desire for “a drink,” and nothing more. She said that she hoped Gibson would spend his time in prison reflecting on that day, and that her aunt’s face would haunt him every moment. 

Although only three members of Sperry’s family provided statements, several more were in attendance, and a woman from the district attorney’s office rushed to provide them with tissues in the gallery when it came time for statements to be delivered. 

Rachel Tanner told The Enterprise after the hearing that she didn’t make a statement because she felt it would “wasted breath” on Gibson, whom she feels is entirely unremorseful for his actions.

Although Gibson did apologize “for all my actions before and after the accident,” while acknowledging that apologies would not be enough to make up for Lisa’s death, his short statement was delivered quickly and monotonously, in sharp contrast to his behavior at the scene of the crash as recounted in police records and witness accounts. 

The Enterprise reported, in February 2022, that police records indicated Gibson was defensive at the site of the crash, where he refused to submit to a breathalyzer test, mischaracterized the events leading up to the crash, and was generally oppositional with an officer, telling him at one point to “arrest me, dude,” and demanding his license back. 

Westerlo Supervisor Matt Kryzak, who lives near the site of the crash, told The Enterprise earlier this month that he and his wife rushed out to investigate the commotion and found everyone severely injured, except for Gibson, whom Kryzak said was wandering around complaining about a superficial injury as others, including his female passenger, were being treated by people on the scene. 

“He was like, ‘Oh, my arm, my arm,’” Kryzak said. “It had, like, a scratch on it. My wife and I told him to sit down and shut up. Like, there’s dead people here, what’s wrong with you? … It was brutal.”

Rachel Tanner said that her husband and two of her sons volunteer with the Rensselaerville Fire Department and that, since they’re known to local firefighters throughout the Hilltowns, they received calls about the crash as soon as everyone involved was put on a transport to the hospital. 

She said this week that Gibson allegedly tried to move his passenger into the driver’s side, and that “all he wanted to do was get away from the firefighters.”

“The firefighters had to keep them on the scene because all he wanted to do was run,” she said. “He didn’t give two craps about what he was doing. Not at all.”

Gibson would later skip his sentencing after pleading guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide, and remained a fugitive for up to six months, until he was arrested for a domestic dispute in Rensselaer County. 

After his recapture, he attempted unsuccessfully to renege on his earlier guilty plea. 

The trauma of the incident, she said, goes beyond the family, and rests with everyone who was on the scene, which has been universally described as gruesome, and to anyone who feels Sperry’s absence, and recognizes the pain carried by her family. 

“When there’s a tragedy like that, it affects the whole entire community,” Tanner said.

With Gibson now on his way to prison, Ingleston said she’s left with the same thoughts she’s had each morning since the crash as she sits outside with her cup of coffee. 

“I think about how Lisa died, and I think to myself, ‘Wow, what a justice system,” she said. 

“And I keep thinking about the last time I saw Lisa,” she said. “I didn’t even know it was her. I couldn’t recognize her.”

Ingelston said her sister was wrapped in blankets at the hospital, her face so swollen and white, and her hair so darkened, that the family thought that maybe it was the girl from Gibson’s car. 

“But I looked down at the bottom and I saw this little, reddish-brown curl sticking out, and I realized it was her,” she said. “And so every morning this vivid memory is in my head.”