Comasco is given 3 years for fatal car crash

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Bloomfield resident Nicholas Comasco, 27, was sentenced in Newark Superior Court on Monday, June 26, to three years in state prison for vehicular homicide. He had been charged in the death of Bloomfield High School junior Christina Lembo, 16.

Comasco was led from the courtroom in handcuffs by Essex County Sheriff officers.
“We love you, Nick,” was called out from a group of Comasco family members. “Love you guys, too,” he replied before disappearing through a doorway.
Members of the Lembo family were also present.

Comasco was a driver in a two-car collision whose car struck another car carrying Lembo, who was a backseat passenger. A second individual was in the front passenger seat of the Lembo vehicle and sustained injuries. Comasco’s brother, Larry, had been identified in court as being in the front passenger seat of Comasco’s car. The accident occurred Sept. 29, 2012, on Broughton Avenue, a little after 11 p.m. Comasco had previously admitted in court that he was speeding. At least 85 percent of his sentence must be completed before he is eligible for parole.

The sentencing procedure was an opportunity for Comasco’s attorney, Emile Lisboa, to ask Judge Verna Leath for further consideration for his client. It was also the time for assistant Essex County Prosecutor Eileen O’Connor to request that Leath not deviate from the sentencing. Comasco also had the chance to speak, which he did; and for the Lembo family to speak, which they did not. Comasco’s sister, Jeannie, also spoke.

Lisboa told Leath that his client was not a criminal but that he must be held accountable for a car accident.

“I know Mr. Comasco has gone through a lot,” Lisboa said. “When he came to my office, he said he wished he had died in the accident.”

Lisboa said Bloomfield was a small town where practically everyone knows everyone else and the fatal car accident had affected a lot of people.

“I would ask the court to follow the plea agreement,” Lisboa said.
But he did take issue with O’Connor’s previous request that Comasco’s license be suspended for an additional five years following the 54 month suspension already imposed on him by the Motor Vehicle Commission because of the fatal accident.

“If the suspension were to be imposed, have it run concurrently,” Lisboa said.
He also asked Leath that Comasco remain free on bail because there were issues in the case that were to be appealed.

Comasco’s sister then spoke. She said the Lembo and the Comasco families have mutual friends. “My mother’s heart goes out to Mrs. Lembo,” she said. “Nicholas has unending sorrow. He will live his life in honor of Ms. Lembo.”

She then asked that God bless her brother and Christina.
Comasco spoke. He said he deeply regretted his actions and wanted to apologize. “I hope today brings peace to everyone’s loss,” he said. “I am so sorry.”

O’Connor then told Leath that to deviate from the sentencing would be a gross miscarriage of justice. She called Lisboa’s request that his client remain free on bail “inappropriate.” She also took issue with Lisboa characterizing the fatal incident as “an accident.”

“It wasn’t an accident,” she said. “It was a crime. We don’t stand here and say he’s an all-bad person. But a 16-year-old girl has died.”

O’Connor said that although the Lembo family had decided to not respond in court at the sentencing, the judge should not take that to mean anything because the situation was too emotional for the family.

Finally, O’Connor said she did not think that Lisboa had any grounds for an appeal.
“Bail is not appropriate,” she said. “In September, it’s going to be four years. To delay the matter without a sufficient basis would be inappropriate.”

Leath now imposed the sentence. Lisboa and Comasco stood.
“The court agrees with the prosecution,” she said. “The facts describe a terrible accident of criminal dimension.”

Leath said to refer to Christina Lembo as a victim was to impersonalize her life: She was a 16-year-old living the life of a 16-year-old girl. The judge said the day of sentencing was only one event in a tragedy.

But Leath did agree with Lisboa and did not see any reason for an additional suspension of Comasco’s license. She said 85 percent of a three-year sentence was two years, six months, and 20 days.

The sentence had been a plea bargain negotiated between O’Connor and Lisboa. Comasco was facing 10 years if he had been found guilty by a jury. Although he was charged with a second-degree offense, his sentencing was for a third-degree offense.

Comasco was 45 minutes late for the sentencing. While waiting, Lisboa said he thought the sentence was the least amount of prison time for his client.

Arriving in court, Comasco, who wore a suit and tie to the multitude of previous court hearings before three different judges, was wearing a loose-fitting gray shirt hanging outside a pair of jeans. He had on gray sneakers.

After the sentencing, in the courtroom hallway, Lisboa reiterated his belief that what had happened was “an accident.” He said the driver of the car in which Lembo was a passenger was on a provisional licence and should not have been driving. He also said that two of the people in the car were on cell phones giving distracting direction to the driver.

“A lot of things that shouldn’t have been going on were happening,” Lisboa said.
The driver of the car in which Lembo was a passenger had his right-turn signal on, but turned left, into the path of Comasco’s speeding car. This had been said in open court previously and was part of the Bloomfield Police Department accident report.