State Prison for DUI related homicide
By MATT MILLER, The Patriot-News
April 13, 2010, 3:07PM
A Cumberland County judge this afternoon imposed a 39-month-to-8-year state prison sentence on an Enola man who caused a drunken-driving crash that killed a 22-year-old Mechanicsburg-area man in August in East Pennsboro Township.
President Judge Kevin A. Hess imposed consecutive prison sentences in the homicide by vehicle and aggravated assault convictions of Richard W. Jones, 52, at the urging of Kelli Emrick, the girlfriend of crash victim Stuart Bingham Jr.
Afterward, Emrick, who was injured in the crash, said no penalty can compensate for the death of Bingham, “the most amazing person I’ve ever known.”
Bingham’s mother, Renee, said she hopes the crash that killed her son raises awareness of the consequences of drunken driving.
Jones, who pleaded guilty to the charges in January, said he has been praying for Bingham’s family. He said he is still trying to come to terms with what he did.
Police said Jones slammed into the car of Bingham and Emrick after running a red light at Wertzville Road and Center Street. Just before the crash he had collided with mailboxes and drove through yards, blowing a tire.
Bingham, an accounting student at Harrisburg Area Community College and a 2005 Cumberland Valley High School graduate, died at the scene as Emrick frantically phoned for help.
