Woman makes plea deal in fatal car crash

BY ANN GIVENS ann.givens@newsday.com

11:07 PM EST, January 9, 2009

Nassau prosecutors and the family of a young woman killed by a drunken driver expressed dismay Friday at a deal that could

allow the driver to serve as little as a year in jail. Ansaf Ibrahim, 21, of Port Washington, pleaded guilty Friday

to second-degree manslaughter and other crimes after Nassau County Judge George Peck said he would sentence her to

serve her time in a local jail. Such sentences are typically no more than a year. "What he's considering is unconscionable," said prosecutor

Matthew Lampert. "What we want is for the defendant to be sentenced in proportion to her outrageously reckless

behavior." He recommended a sentence of 3 to 9 years in prison. Their anger at the deal made by Peck and Ibrahim was fueled by pictures and postings by her on the social networking Web site Facebook. Prosecutors and relatives of victim Desiree Mesolella, 19, say those postings indicate Ibrahim is unremorseful. Vincent Mesolella said he was ready to forgive Ibrahim until someone showed him Ibrahim's Facebook page. Only two weeks after Mesolella had buried his daughter, pictures were posted of Ibrahim out making a toast, and jokes were made in an online conversation about more wild nights on the town, Mesolella and prosecutors said. "We did not have any ill will toward her until we learned of her total lack of remorse," said Mesolella, a former Rhode Island legislator. Ibrahim's lawyer, Alan Schwartz of Garden City, said he was limited in what he could say about the case because his client could still go to trial if Peck

decides to sentence her to more than a year in jail. But he said Ibrahim's Facebook postings are "not what they seem" and that she is terribly saddened by what happened to her friend. Mesolella said it's not enough. "If he [Peck] does what he's contemplating, a message will be sent that these crimes are of no consequence," Vincent Mesolella said tearfully after Ibrahim pleaded guilty.