MINEOLA, N.Y. – Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced that a man from Ridge has been sentenced to 23 years to life in prison for the November 2016 death of an East Meadow man inside a Hicksville motel room.
Vincent Dalton, 52, pled guilty on January 31 before Acting Supreme Court Justice Teresa Corrigan to Murder in the Second Degree (an A-I felony).
“This defendant demonstrated a disturbing disregard for human life when he bludgeoned another man to death over a debit card,” DA Singas said. “No sentence can undo the damage Vincent Dalton did to Mr. O’Connell’s family and friends, but Nassau County is safer now that this dangerous defendant is behind bars.”
DA Singas said on November 19, 2016 at 1:00 p.m., the victim, 39-year-old Erik O’Connell, was found hog tied on the floor of a room inside the Econo Lodge in Hicksville by motel staff. When police arrived at the scene it was determined he died from blunt force trauma to the head. A weapon was never recovered.
Following an investigation, members of the Nassau County Police Department arrested the defendant, Vincent Dalton on November 23, 2016. Surveillance video from November 18 showed the victim and defendant walking into and out of The Headliner Bar in Hicksville together, approximately half a mile from the motel.
Additional surveillance video then showed the defendant and victim walking into the motel room together at 11:45 p.m. on November 18, and the defendant leaving by himself at approximately 3:00 a.m. on November 19 with a computer, debit card, credit card and other items believed to belong to the victim. The following morning, the defendant also attempted to use the victim’s credit cards at a McDonald’s and a nearby deli in Brentwood.
Senior Litigation Counsel Martin Meaney of DA Singas’ Major Offense Bureau is prosecuting the case. The defendant is represented by Brian Carmody, Esq.
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