Brooklyn Lawyer Pleads Not Guilty To DWI, Other Charges In Fatal LIE Crash

MINEOLA, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- An attorney accused of driving drunk and killing a 21-year-old man came face to face with the victim's family and friends in court Wednesday.

Defendant Raj Jadeja, 35, of Brooklyn pleaded not guilty to several charges including aggravated vehicular homicide and DWI in the death of George Ragotte.

Prosecutors said Jadeja had a blood alcohol level of .14 and Xanax in his system when he crashed his BMW into Ragotte's car on the Long Island Expressway last September.

"This defendant is charged with driving under the influence of both alcohol and drugs on the Long Island Expressway and slamming into another car with enough force to push the car's bumper into the back of the driver's seat." Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said. "Ragotte was in that car and he was killed in this terribly violent and completely preventable crash."

Family and friends, holding blue flowers and wearing t-shirts with pictures of Ragotte, crowded the courtroom.

Ragotte's father, Steven Vottega, said his son always had a smile on his face and helped people.

"For somebody that chose to get in a car and drink we got the life sentence," Vottega said.

The victim's fiancée, Angela Cassano, said Ragotte had proposed to her just hours before he died.

"I don't get to go to the wedding store and try on dresses," Cassano said. "I don't get any of that. I spend my life in my room, in my house."

Cassano said she has been hospitalized three times for severe anxiety since Ragotte was killed.

"I can't leave my house much," Cassano said. "His friends try to get me to come out and I try coming out and then I have panic attacks and I have to go back home."

The defendant's lawyer said his client was not the person involved in the crash.

Jadeja is being held on $500,000 bond or $275,000 cash.

He is due back in court on March 23.