COURT HOUSE – The drunk driver who hit and killed two people as he sped away from another accident during an unsanctioned car rally that wreaked havoc in Wildwood in September 2022 was sentenced to 25 years in state prison Thursday, Feb. 8.
Gerald White, the driver, was led out of the courtroom by sheriff’s deputies to serve the sentence, after an emotional hearing at the Cape May County Courthouse that featured impact statements from one of the surviving victims, Sarah Farmer, and from family members of the two deceased.
Superior Court Judge J. Christopher Gibson handed White, 38, the maximum sentence allowed under a negotiated plea agreement he reached with prosecutors, unpersuaded by the defense’s argument that 15 years would be more appropriate and even went beyond how New Jersey courts have recently sentenced other defendants brought on similar charges.
White, of Pittsburgh, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated manslaughter in December 2023, agreeing then, under questioning by his attorney, that he drove recklessly, demonstrating an “extreme indifference to the value of life and safety” the night Timothy Ogden, 34, and Lindsay Weakland, 18, were killed as a result of his driving.
White’s blood alcohol content was .197 – more than twice the .08 legal limit to drive in New Jersey – following the Irish Weekend crash, and a blood draw also revealed there was marijuana in his system. Prosecutors also said he was speeding, though they said they were unable to determine at what speed he was operating his 2003 Infiniti prior to the accident.
In addition to the two first-degree homicide counts, White pleaded guilty to two second-degree counts of aggravated assault while eluding police for the injuries he caused to Farmer and Giovanni Cianciolo, which happened as he fled police, who had made contact with him over a relatively minor traffic incident just prior. White also pleaded guilty to DUI.
As part of the plea, White cannot appeal the 25-year sentence.
On Sept. 24, 2022, White, in Wildwood for the H2oi car rally – which overwhelmed the resort with drag races and other lawlessness – lost control of his car near the intersection of Burk and Atlantic avenues.
He hit the Honda Civic containing Ogden and Farmer just after 9:30 p.m. Ogden, of Clayton, and Farmer were both transported to the hospital, where Ogden later died and Farmer survived. White also hit two pedestrians, Weakland and Cianciolo. Weakland, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, was pronounced dead at the scene, but Cianciolo was transported to the hospital and survived.
Farmer, 30, who was engaged to Ogden and in the car with him that night, addressed White in a tearful victim impact statement, asking him if the “senseless act” was all worth it.
“My life has been flipped upside down and forever changed. All my hopes for a future with Tim have been ruined,” she said in court. “My body hurts every day. I’m extremely angry. And instead of holding Tim’s hand, I hold hands with sadness and anger. I live most days wishing it was all just a nightmare. I remember our last moments before the darkness took over and I woke up in agony and confused.
“My wedding gown is packed away, and it kills me that he won’t ever get the chance to see it. You have left me heartbroken, shattered, angry and lost. Justice isn’t served in my eyes, but I’m happy to know that you’re behind bars. You’re not forgiven.”
Family members and friends of Ogden and Weakland packed the side of the gallery behind prosecutors, many wearing memorial T-shirts and passing tissue boxes. Some said that not even a sentence of life in prison – which was not available to the judge under the law – would bring them justice. A much smaller number of supporters sat on the defense side behind White.
Dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit, handcuffed and shackled at the ankles, White remained stoic through most of the proceeding, at times bowing his head. Toward the end of the hearing, he appeared to get emotional, wiping tears from his cheek.
He wasn’t the only one affected by the passionate statements. Court staff could be seen crying and, at one point, even the judge appeared overcome with sadness, something unusual, even in the most tragic of cases.
White’s defense lawyer told the Herald after court that it was the worst sentencing hearing he’s sat through in 20 years of practicing law.
“That was the worst one I’ve ever done. By far the worst,” Alfonso Gambone told the Herald after court. “That was awful. I mean, Judge Gibson was crying.”
Haley Weakland, Lindsay Weakland’s sister, addressed the court in a lengthy statement, talking about the impact of her sister’s death on her own health and happiness.
“My heart breaks and my soul aches more each day, thinking about what this life has to offer, all the endless things she won’t be able to partake in, and all the endless things I will now have to do without her,” she told the judge, reading from a prepared statement while using tissues to wipe tears from her eyes.
“Every day, and for the rest of my life, I’ll be waiting, hoping, longing for her to walk through that door. She’s the sweetest, purest soul I will ever know. She was so gorgeous, extraordinary. The charisma she held was breathtaking. Her kindness was abundant and her love was unconditional.”
At sentencing, First Assistant Prosecutor Saverio Carroccia said the volume of people and congestion in Wildwood the night of the crash was a further aggravating factor from the state’s perspective.
“There were people everywhere … porches, streets, gutters, sidewalks, everywhere possible. So, to think you could be that impaired, not have a valid driver’s license, and somehow speed through the city,” Carroccia argued. “It is unthinkable to think that you can race through, at a high rate of speed, in that area and not hit somebody.”
“It was, quite frankly, Judge, the most heightened sense of recklessness I may have ever seen in my career. If there was another level, like super-aggravated manslaughter, he would’ve committed it,” Carroccia added, telling the judge he is comfortable that, based on his arguments and the victim statements, the sentence “should not and will not come a month under that 25” years, despite any mitigation arguments from the defense.
In arguing for mitigation, Gambone pointed out that a trial, which could have lasted between four and eight weeks, would have been brutal for the families to endure. He said it would have also cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars, and with the guilty plea, the county Prosecutor’s Office can now allocate those resources to other matters and his client should get credit for accepting responsibility rather than forcing a trial.
Gambone argued that White was the victim of a difficult upbringing. His parents divorced when he was an infant, and his mother was addicted to crack cocaine, he said. White now has six kids of his own, ranging from 12 to 19 years old, some of whom were in court to support him.
White’s 24-year criminal history – which includes 31 prior arrests, three convictions from indictments and four disorderly persons convictions – “is all likely due to a drug addiction which he failed to overcome as a young person,” Gambone wrote in a pre-sentence memorandum reviewed by the judge prior to the Feb. 8 hearing.
“His history of alcohol and drug abuse most likely derived from his experiences during his upbringing, specifically to his mother’s addiction and lack of attention that occurred as a result of that addiction.”
He asked the judge to consider the sentences imposed in eight New Jersey vehicular homicide cases, most from the last five years, and one from 2008.
In each of the cases Gambone cited, which all ended in guilty pleas, high degrees of intoxication and recklessness factored into the deaths. Sentences in each of those cases ranged from five to 12 years, the attorney pointed out.
White, who had remained silent since his arrest on the advice of counsel, did address the court in brief remarks prior to sentencing, apologizing to those impacted by the tragedy and turning to his kids in the gallery to tell them he loved them.
“I just want to say that I’m sorry for what happened and I wasn’t trying to hurt nobody,” White said to the court and the victims’ families.
White faced 80 years in state prison if convicted by a jury on all charges and if he got maximum sentences all ordered to run consecutively. In exchange for the plea, he got 25 years for each of the homicide charges and 10 years for each of the assault charges involving the injured victims, with all sentences running concurrently.
He will have to serve at least 85% of the 25-year total state prison sentence, in accordance with the No Early Release Act, making him parole-eligible after about 21 years and three months. He will get credit for the time he has spent in the county jail since his arrest in September 2022 and could be released on parole around the time he turns 60 years old.
The H2oi car rally took over the city’s streets, straining law enforcement resources and causing chaos. In the event’s aftermath, city officials and local law enforcement officials held meetings to strategize on how to avoid a repeat of the weekend’s tragic outcome. An ordinance was passed in Wildwood to try to increase penalties and deter those who participate in “exhibition driving” from coming to the resort.
Prosecutors made it clear that deterrence was a main objective of the harsh sentence.
“They’re not a car club, they’re a criminal club that essentially promotes lawlessness under the guise, because some of them have cool cars,” the first assistant prosecutor told the judge, referencing H2oi.
While Carroccia told the Herald he would not comment on the sentence, Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey H. Sutherland said in a prepared statement that he was proud of the law enforcement personnel and attorneys involved from his office, who “made sure justice was done.”
“The tragic deaths of Lindsay Weakland and Timothy Ogden are heartbreaking losses for their friends, loved ones and family that can never be overcome,” Sutherland said. “Anyone considering engaging in an illegal, unsanctioned car rally should be forewarned that it will not be tolerated by law enforcement, and we will use the full force of the law to make certain justice is served.”
In an exclusive interview, Gambone acknowledged he had an uphill battle and didn’t criticize the sentence.
“Based on what I reviewed, in terms of previous sentences given out by other courts, it was still high. But I respect it,” he said. “I understand it. It was in the court’s discretion. I’m not going to call it, by any means, an inappropriate sentence. But at the same time, I thought what I was asking for was reasonable.”
It was White’s rap sheet that ultimately cost him, the defense lawyer said.
“If he had no prior criminal history – a clean record – and this was just a bad decision, I think we could have easily gotten to 12 years, in that range,” Gambone said after court. “The fact that his BAC (blood alcohol content) was really high, that was aggravating. But what was really aggravating is the fact that he had been through the system before as a juvenile, he had been given opportunities. … He’s been on probation before. He spent time in custody.”
Gambone also said he thinks the case was treated differently in the resort community of Cape May County than it would have been in other counties in the state.
“They wanted this to make headlines throughout the state and throughout Pennsylvania, to send the message to people that we’re not going to tolerate it,” he said, adding that in other counties he thinks his client would have gotten 15 years. “The fact that Cape May County is a resort destination for people, and it’s directly tied to their economy, they want people to know that it’s safe.”
For the families of Ogden and Weakland, however, where the tragedy happened matters little. Although they now have closure in the legal process, they face a long recovery.
Eighteen-year-old Weakland’s car remains parked in the family’s driveway, and her bedroom remains untouched, frozen in time since the morning she left for Wildwood.
The only difference now, her sister said, is that among the knickknacks on her nightstand, an urn containing her ashes has been placed, along with her picture and two pouches. In one is a gold necklace she wore every day, which had to be cut off her the night of the crash, and in the other is “a strand of her long, beautiful, blond hair” that the family received from the funeral home, her sister told the judge.
Contact the author, Shay Roddy, at sroddy@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 142.
