LANCASTER, N.Y. (WKBW) — Acting Erie County Court Judge Carrie Phillips dismissed the indictment against Ryan Stencel in the 2022 deaths of Makenzie Mycek and Molly Kaminski when he crashed his car on Warner Road in Lancaster.
The Erie County District Attorney's Office indicted him on a charge of criminally negligent homicide, and a week before jury selection was to begin in the trial, the judge ruled to dismiss the case.
Former Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said it's rare for a judge to dismiss an indictment.
“This doesn't happen very often...I can't even think of one quite frankly where I had a case dismissed like this," Flynn told me.
He was still in office when the grand jury handed down the indictment.
Flynn explained that two issues led to the judge dismissing the case — a decision he strongly disagrees with.
Marijuana was found in Stencel's blood and that evidence was presented to the grand jury. However, there's no way to show the level of impairment from marijuana and the toxicologist who handled the test refused to testify about the level of impairment.
“The judge ruled that, 'Alright. Well, if she can't say that, then you can't use that evidence in trial...However, what you did in the grand jury is still OK,'" Flynn said.
That was the first judge assigned to the case, Erie County Court Judge Ken Case. The case was reassigned to Phillips, who is normally a Buffalo City Court Judge.
The defense then raised questions about testimony from an expert for the prosecution about how fast Stencel was going. It was higher than what a defense attorney concluded and the prosecution witness changed his mind.
Based on that, the defense attorneys argued that the indictment should be thrown out.
Flynn said these issues shouldn't have mattered and there's case law to back it up.
“He was still going too fast for the conditions that night. It was dark. It was a rural road in Lancaster. it was snowing out. There was ice on the road. He was going down a hill," Flynn said. "Those are facts for a jury to decide."
Acting Erie County DA Michael Keane said his office will appeal the decision. That is a process expected to take months.
After the judge's ruling Thursday, Kris and Toni Kaminski — Molly's parents — released the following statement:
“All the technicalities and lawyers in the world don’t change the fact that Ryan Stencel was responsible for the deaths of Molly and Makenzie and showed no concern for their lives as they burned to death in front of him. He was up on his feet and talking; he never once said their names, never mentioned he had passengers in the car at all. He knew then what he did and he knows now what he did. He needs to live with that shame regardless of today’s outcome, as do those who worked to help him avoid any kind of accountability. We appreciate the continued fight for justice for Molly and Kenzie from the Erie County D.A.’s office. Please honor Molly and Kenzie’s memories by stressing to young drivers to value the lives of their passengers and the importance of not driving recklessly.”
