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Last Lake George boat crash defendant lambasted at sentencing

QUEENSBURY — The Glens Falls woman who was the last remaining defendant in the 2016 Lake George fatal boat crash case was put on probation Monday, after she was harshly criticized by a relative of the 8-year-old victim’s for failing to take responsibility.

Morland C. Keyes had no statement or reaction in court, despite the tearful victims impact statement from a grandmother of Charlotte McCue’s that called her “pathetic” and criticized her for “cowardice” and dishonesty.

Christine Knarr lambasted Keyes for refusing to cooperate with police as they investigated the tragedy and for taking an “Alford” plea to a misdemeanor charge and not admitting responsibility at that point, either.

“If a charge could be brought for unimaginable lack of humanity, they’d all be serving life sentences,” Knarr said of Keyes and her co-defendants.

A photograph of Charlotte was attached to the written statement filed in court by the Knarrs on Monday.

Keyes, 28, was one of five passengers on the boat that day after an all-day party on Lake George. Their boat hit the Knarr boat, killing Charlotte and seriously injuring her mother. The passengers all lied to police, and only one cooperated with authorities months later.

Keyes pleaded guilty in June to making a punishable false written statement, although under the terms of a plea deal she did not have to admit the underlying allegations despite her guilty plea. She agreed to a plea deal that requires that she spend 2 years on probation and complete 100 hours of community service.

The charge stemmed from a written statement she gave Warren County sheriff’s investigators the day after the July 25, 2016 boat crash. The crash led to a homicide prosecution of the boat’s driver, Alexander West.

West had been drinking and using drugs for hours before the crash, and was convicted of manslaughter and lesser counts after a trial in the spring of 2017.

Keyes and other passengers falsely told police that passengers on West’s boat yelled to the occupants of McCue’s boat, but they did not respond and drove off. She wrote that West was going “slow” when the crash happened.

“To me, I thought they just hit us and left,” her statement reads.

Testimony showed there was screaming heard from great distances after the collision.

“The screams from our boat were heard for miles up and down the lake,” Knarr said Monday.

“She seems to be unable to admit that she is responsible for the choices she made,” Knarr added of Keyes.

Keyes was the last of the four passengers to resolve her case.

The other three received jail terms as part of their deal, but Keyes had no prior criminal record, while the others did. The others were charged with hindering prosecution for their role in hiding West after the crash, while Keyes was not.

Warren County District Attorney Jason Carusone said Keyes forwarded a letter to the victims’ relatives several weeks ago. But its contents were unknown, and it was not filed in court.

Her lawyer, Julie Garcia, had no statement in court on Monday but had earlier said her client was remorseful.

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