Overview
- A Riverhead jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts on Thursday, June 4, 2026, including four counts of second-degree depraved-indifference murder.
- Prosecutors said surveillance footage, the vehicle's event-data recorder and witness testimony show Schwally accelerated his SUV to about 78 mph before plowing into Hawaii Nail & Spa on June 28, 2024, killing four people and injuring nine.
- Authorities presented a hospital blood test showing a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.17%, which prosecutors said supported their claim he had been drinking for hours before the crash.
- The defense argued Schwally suffered a leg disability that locked his foot on the gas and said the hospital-drawn blood sample was contaminated, but the defense called no witnesses and jurors asked for a readback of a detective's interview during deliberations.
- Schwally has not yet been sentenced and faces decades-to-life in prison; the verdict follows a high-profile two-week trial that drew strong attention from law enforcement and the victims' families and will now likely lead to post-verdict proceedings and appeals.