Fatal Amagansett Hit-And-Run Driver To Serve 90 Days in County Jail

Daniel Campbell, who struck and killed 18-year-old Devesh Samtani on Old Stone Highway in Amagansett last year and then drove back to his family’s home in Montauk without stopping or reporting the incident, agreed on Tuesday, October 25, to serve 90 days in the Suffolk County jail for leaving the scene of a fatal accident.

He had been given a choice by the judge in the case of either accepting a 90-day jail sentence or going to trial. If convicted at trial, Campbell could have faced multiple years in state prison.

He is scheduled to be officially sentenced on November 3 in the county courtroom of Justice Richard Ambro to the agreed upon jail time, followed by 90 more days of community service, after which he will serve five years of probation.

Under the county’s good behavior policy, Campbell will likely be released after 60 days.

Ambro had initially promised Campbell, 21, six months of community service without any jail time at all under the terms of a plea agreement. But, on August 5, when Campbell entered his guilty plea, Ambro warned that his keeping that promise of no jail time was contingent on several factors. In particular, he warned that the presentation of any damaging character information in the Probation Department’s presentencing report could sway him to change his mind.

The family of the victim, outraged at the lack of jail time in the promised sentence, retained prominent New York criminal law attorney Benjamin Brafman.

Brafman had said previously that he had presented Ambro with Campbell’s complete driving record, which, he said, showed the young man to be “a driving menace — and now he has killed somebody.”

The district attorney’s office, which had asked earlier this year for a one-to-three-year sentence for Campbell, was asked Tuesday if the judge had previously been presented with the same information, which would have been readily available.

“As part of the presentencing investigation, the court came to the same conclusion that the D.A.’s office had been advocating for: That this case merited a jail sentence,” Tania Lopez, spokeswoman for District Attorney Ray Tierney responded in an email.

Because Ambro had changed his mind about the sentence, he offered Campbell the option of, essentially, a legal “do-over,” in which Campbell could withdraw his guilty plea and, instead, go to trial.

Campbell stood before Ambro flanked by his attorneys, Edward Burke Jr. and Anthony DiFiore.

“I am well aware that I made a promise to you,” Ambro said to Campbell. He said that after making that promise, he then was presented with the final presentencing report, followed by a conference with the attorneys involved.

“As a result of information I have learned since making that promise, my offer has changed,” he said. Ambro then laid out the new sentence promise. He said that, on November 3, he “will have much more to say about the sentence” that he will be handing down.

Ambro asked Campbell if he had spoken with his attorneys about the new sentence. Campbell said he had. The defendant and his parents had met in a conference room with his attorneys for about a half hour after the attorneys had been informed by the judge of the new sentence.

Ambro then gave Campbell the option for the legal “do-over.”

“Do you withdraw your plea?” Ambro asked.

“No, I do not, your honor,” Campbell answered.

On August 5, after entering his guilty plea, Campbell admitted, under questioning by prosecuting attorney Ray Varuolo, that, while driving his father’s 2012 Honda Pilot the night of August 10, 2021, he struck and killed Samtani, then drove off, stopping only to let the passengers riding in his vehicle out. The passengers were friends of his sister, who remained in the Pilot with Campbell for the trip back to their parents’ Montauk home.

One of the sister’s friends took a cellphone photo of the license plate on the Pilot when she exited the vehicle, leading East Hampton Town Police to the Montauk residence.

The family also has a year-round home in Westchester County.

Burke has called the case a “horrible tragedy,” and said that while his client had wanted to address the family of Samtani directly, Burke had urged him to wait. “There is a time and a place for everything. November 3 will be that time,” Burke said after leaving the courthouse.

The victim’s father and mother, Mala and Kishore Samtani, are also expected to address the court and Campbell on November 3.

The victim’s father is the founder of “TV Products,” known for the famous tagline of “as seen on TV.” He operates his international entrepreneurial businesses out of both London and Hong Kong, where the family lives.

Samtani was killed just days before he was supposed to start his freshman year at New York University.

Soon after their son’s death on the dark, narrow, shoulderless Old Stone Highway, the family retained the powerful PR firm Rubenstein Public Relations. The firm has turned out a sizable media presence at Campbell’s various court appearances.

This led to some incendiary coverage, particularly after Ambro made his promise of no jail time to Campbell.

The Daily Mail, for example, published a series of articles on the case, repeatedly citing numerous allegations made by the family about Campbell’s behavior and intentions that were never supported in court. The news organization also published the name and photograph of the business in Montauk where Campbell was working at the time.

Tuesday’s court appearance was the first in recent months for which the PR firm did not reach out to journalists in advance with email alerts and phone calls.

That may not be the case for the November 3 sentencing of Campbell.