Magee gets 15-year max for manslaughter in Kingdollar death

Noah Magee

ALBION – Noah Magee was sentenced to up to 15 years in state prison this morning, the maximum for second-degree manslaughter.

Magee, 20, offered a tearful apology for the death of Roger Kingdollar III,  who was 24 when he died after being hit by a pickup truck driven by Magee in Barre on Feb. 8, 2024. Kingdollar was riding a dirt bike when Magee crossed the opposite lane and hit Kingdollar on the north side of McNamar Road.

“I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart,” Magee said during sentencing today. “I would give my life to have Roger back.”

Magee said he and Kingdollar had their differences, but Magee said he didn’t mean for him to be killed.

“I’m really not a monster and the heartless person I’ve been made out to be,” Magee said. “I hope you won’t hate me and despise me forever.”

But Magee’s conduct caused the death of Kingdollar, and Magee has refused to take responsibility for his actions, said Joe Cardone, the recently retired Orleans County district attorney and acted as an assistant DA during sentencing today.

Magee has maintained the fatal collision with Kingdollar was an accident and random, the result of making too wide of a turn from Angevine to McNamar roads, Cardone said.

“There is no question what happened was deliberate on the defendant’s part,” Cardone said in court. “His actions have a lasting impact on everyone, most certainly the Kingdollar family.”

Kingdollar’s sister, Vanity Bennett, said her brother was a positive force for his friends and family, especially her three children.

“He will always be my baby brother,” she said during sentencing. “He was the light of the room.”

Her brother loved riding his dirt bike, and never missed a birthday party for Bennett’s three children.

She decried Magee for causing her brother’s death “in such a senseless and ruthless way.”

“He drove his truck as a weapon,” Bennett said. “We don’t ever want to see him on the streets. I hope he rots in prison.”

Magee’s attorney Paul Vacca insisted the collision was an accident. He said Magee has maintained his innocence throughout the case, since his arrest the night of Feb. 8, nearly a year ago.

Vacca asked for five years of probation for Magee, who has no prior criminal record. Vacca also noted Magee wasn’t found guilty of the more serious charge of second-degree murder.

Orleans County Court Judge Sanford Church said Magee is deserving of the stiffest sentence, 5 to 15 years in state prison.

“You certainly caused his death,” Church told Magee, who was wearing the orange clothing for inmates in the Orleans County Jail.

The judge said Magee hasn’t been truthful about why he veered across the road, and hasn’t taken responsibility for the crime.

Magee also was sentenced to 2 ½ to 7 years in state prison for leaving the scene of a fatal accident, 30 days in the county jail for reckless driving, and 15 days in jail for failure to keep right. Those sentences will be served concurrently or at the same time with the longer sentence for manslaughter.

When the judge announced the maximum sentence for Magee, up to 15 years in state prison, many of Kingdollar’s friends and family clapped and shouted in support.