CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — A corrections officer who pleaded guilty in the 1999 beating death of an inmate has been resentenced to 27 years in prison, more than twice his original term.
Last year, Patrick Regnier pleaded guilty to fatally beating Thomas Pizzuto, 38, in his Nassau County jail cell on Jan. 8, 1999. He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jacob Mishler to almost 11 years in prison.
Regnier and a second convicted correction officer, Edward Velazquez, appealed, saying they should have been sentenced under the guideline for involuntary manslaughter, which carries a lesser sentence of five years in prison, instead of voluntary manslaughter. A federal appeals court sent the case back to Mishler and ordered him to clarify what crime the men had committed.