BELLEFONTE — Vermont truck driver Peter Carrara wasn’t supposed to make a second trip to Pennsylvania, hauling in tombstones for Memorial Day, the week in May 2007 that his rig slammed into and killed a Hollidaysburg woman, his attorney said Friday.
He was tired; he wanted to get it done. And when he stopped at a truck stop and someone offered him methamphetamine, he took it.
A short time later, his speeding truck bulldozed into 57-year-old Bonnie Weaver as Carrara passed her in an intersection where she was making a left turn.
“This is the rest of the story,” attorney Brian Manchester told President Judge David E. Grine, ending more than two years of fights and speculation over whether Carrara was high when the crash happened.
“It was wrong, but he did it,” Manchester said, later adding, “But he does understand he has to be punished.”
Grine said Carrara, convicted by a jury in April of homicide by vehicle, should have known better. “I believe you know or you should have known that your actions ... could cause or would cause serious harm to others,” Grine said. “Your conduct in using the drugs could not be ignored.”
Grine sentenced Carrara to spend one to five years in state prison. He’ll be eligible for early parole in about 10 months.
Earlier, Carrara broke down into tears apologizing to Weaver’s family.
“I am truly sorry for what happened,” Carrara said. “Words cannot describe how terribly I feel and how I wish I could change what happened that day. Someday you may forgive me.”
At trial, jurors only heard that
meth was found in Carrara’s urine after the crash. DUI charges he’d faced were dismissed because a judge ruled police got his urine illegally.
“Had we not faced problems (with evidence) in this case early on, the defendant may have been facing a three-year mandatory today,” District Attorney Michael Madeira said.
Manchester argued Weaver contributed to the crash, by turning left into Carrara’s path after signaling right.
Carrara was cuffed by sheriff’s deputies after the hearing and began serving his sentence Friday.
His two sisters both stood and addressed Weaver’s family, saying they too were deeply sorry. They explained how they lost their parents when they were young, and Carrara helped raise them.
Weaver’s husband, son, daughter and grandchildren were in the courtroom, but didn’t address the judge. Grine said he did receive letters from both sides.
The sentence was close to the 18-month sentence Madeira recommended.
“He made multiple decisions that said, ‘All I’m really concerned with doing is getting where I’m going as fast as I can go,’ ” Madeira said.
In advocating for a sentence of six months or less, Manchester cited two cases where he thought facts were similar but Madeira was more lenient.
The first involved Thomas B. Fry, of Boalsburg, who was driving legally blind when he struck a bicyclist in March 2006. Fry received nine months of house arrest after pleading guilty to homicide by vehicle for striking Penn State professor Bohdan Kulakowski on Boalsburg Road.
In the second case, a Philipsburg mother received only summary citations after police said she was going too fast for conditions, tried to pass in a no-passing zone on snow-covered roads and lost control.
Her car hit a tree head-on and her 4-year-old son — who wasn’t properly restrained — died.
“That case was no worse than my client’s,” Manchester said.
But Grine said, “A lesser sentence would seriously depreciate the seriousness of your crime.”
Manchester said he plans to appeal the verdict.
Sara Ganim can be reached at 231-4616.
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