Maximum sentence in fatal hit and run crash

The Irondequoit woman convicted in the hit and run crash that killed a Monroe County social worker last year is sent to prison.

A judge ordered Vanessa McKinney to spend 2 and a third to seven years behind bars, the maximum sentence allowed under law.

"I'm sorry for her because she's inhuman, " said Larry Forde, the victim's father.

Moments after a judge handed Vanessa McKinney her sentence, the family of Bertina Forde filed out of the court room, disappointed.

"I'm hoping the maximum sentence she will serve is 7 years. it helps but it's not what I expected," said Bertina's father.

If not for state law, Judge Francis Affronti says he would have given McKinney a more severe sentence for the hit and run.

McKinney has shown little emotion throughout the trial, until today when she read an apology to the court and to the family before learning her fate.

"I'm not the one to judge. If it's sincere, I'll accept it. if it's not sincere, God will take care of that," said Larry Forde.

"I don't believe the defendant expressed any remorse whatsoever and what little remorse she expressed was at the 11th hour," said Christopher Rodeman, Assistant District Attorney.

Also in the 11th hour, Forde's father spoke to McKinney and the court, reading letters his daughter sent him before her death.

"In my heart you'll always be my dad. I love you dad. I love you!"

The defense continued to deny McKinney's guilt.  Judge Affronti called that an insult to the court.  McKinney's attorney maintained she panicked and left the scene of the accident out of fear.

"If Miss Mckinney would have stayed at the scene it's very possible there would have been nothing more than a traffic violation," said Rodeman.