Update: Kalenka Sentencing Adjourned

Written by Carisa Giardino

Update Oct. 1, 4:15 p.m.: according to the Nassau County District Attorney's Office, the sentencing will be on Oct. 17.

Update 4:15 p.m.: according to the Nassau County District Attorney's Office, the sentencing has been adjourned to a later date. THe new sentencing date is expected to be set Tuesday.

Raymond Kalenka, the Williston Park man charged in the fatal hit-and-run that claimed the life of Grimaldi's pizza manager Dean LaLima in August 2012, is expected to be sentenced Tuesday.

Kalenka, 46, was found guilty Aug. 1 of all charges - leaving the scene of an accident with death and evidence tampering. He faces up to two-and-a-half to seven years in prison. His sentencing comes approximately 14 months after he ran over LaLima’s body near the intersection of Syracuse Street and Broad Street in Williston Park.

During closing arguments, Kalenka’s defense attorney, Brian Davis, attempted to present LaLima as an alcoholic who could have collapsed or fallen down in the street, hitting his head before Kalenka’s car ran him over, masking any signs of trauma caused by an impact with the pavement.

Kalenka will appear before Judge Jerald S. Carter, who, in his findings said that the case hinged on the wording of the hit-and-run statute and while “the initial contact might not have given cause” to believe that Kalenka hit a human being in the roadway, the key witness in the felony charge was a Williston Park security guard who was coming home from work in his own vehicle shortly after Kalenka.

Judge Carter said that the security guard “had not gotten to the corner” when he had observed the outline of a human body in the roadway surrounded by a pool of blood and that the guard’s vehicle headlights put the body “well within” their range. It was said during the trial that while the security guard’s car had its high-beams turned on, Kalenka’s Mercedes did not, but were of a range where a body could have been seen at distance.

Outside court, after the guilty verdict was handed down, LaLima's father, John LaLima, said he felt justified Kalenka was found guilty though it wouldn't bring his son back.

“Now I just hope the judge throws the book at him," he said. "I know when the sentencing comes, I will (have) letters from people who knew (Dean) and that (Kalenka) gets the maximum. The other thing that I’m going to request of the judge is, if it’s humanly possible, to never allow this man to drive a car again so he can never kill another innocent child.”

Geoffrey Walter contributed to this article.