Owners of Long Island rental home sentenced in fire that killed 2 sisters
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — The owners of a Long Island rental home were sentenced Thursday in connection to a 2022 fire that killed two sisters.
In August 2022, the Wiener family from Potomac, Maryland rented a house on Noyac Bay from Peter and Pamela Miller, of Sag Harbor, for one week.
At 3 a.m. on Aug. 3, 2022, an intense fire broke out. Parents Alisa and Lewis Wiener were burned and barely escaped the terrifying inferno. Son Zachary Wiener leapt from the second floor to escape the flames.
Daughters Jillian and Lindsay Wiener were trapped and died in the fire.
The fire began in an outdoor kitchen, which the Millers constructed on their own without permit or electrical inspection, and their smoke and carbon monoxide detectors were not connected properly and no battery backup existed.
Homeowners sentenced to probation, community service in deadly fire
More than two dozen anguished relatives and friends of the Wiener family arrived on Long Island from multiple states Thursday to hear sentencing pronounced for the Millers.
"This was the hardest case that the court has seen. It's gutted out by raw emotions from the Wiener family and certainly from the Miller family," defense attorney Ed Burke Jr. said.
Peter Miller pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide and was sentenced to three years of probation and 200 hours of community service.
Pamela Miller pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment and was sentenced to 100 hours of community service.
Both wept and apologized in court.
"The town code violations and here at the criminal court, it's been one lesson after another for the Millers and for homeowners," Burke said.
During emotion-packed statements, the Wieners said no punishment can fit the crime.
Jillian Wiener was a student at University of Michigan, and Lindsay Wiener attended Tulane University in Louisiana. Their schools called them brilliant, artistic and selfless volunteers.
Sadly, since the fire, father Lewis Wiener died of pancreatic cancer, leaving only mother and son to carry on. They told the judge they do not want to be defined by tragedy, but by love and strength.