Howard man sentenced for causing 2019 crash that seriously injured two people
A Howard man who was intoxicated when he caused a 2019 crash that seriously injured himself and his daughter could not avoid additional jail time Thursday.
Jeremy Gardner, 43, was sentenced by Centre County Judge Brian Marshall to 11 1/2 months to 23 1/2 months in the Centre County Correctional Facility. He received credit for about 3 1/2 months already served.
Gardner slammed a Harley Davidson into a Kia Soul along state Route 144 in Milesburg, state police at Rockview wrote in an affidavit of probable cause. He was driving about 90 mph, Assistant District Attorney Megan McGoron said.
His daughter fractured at least three bones and was in an intensive care unit for five days. Her injuries healed and she has “no long-term after(effects),” defense lawyer Stephanie Cooper wrote in a 14-page memo sent to Marshall.
Gardner’s injuries were “catastrophic,” Cooper wrote.
He fractured several bones and nearly “lost his right arm entirely,” Cooper wrote. Gardner is unable to make a fist or straighten his fingers.
Two Penn State Health physicians urged Marshall to refrain from sending Gardner back to jail, while his daughter was one of about eight relatives who expressed their support.
“He is human. He is my dad. He is not the person you see on that police report,” she wrote in a four-page letter to Marshall. “He is a good man that loves and takes care of his daughter, all of those around him and his country.”
Gardner pleaded guilty in August to one felony count of aggravated assault by vehicle while DUI and one misdemeanor count each of DUI and DUI while driving under suspension. He also pleaded guilty to two summary traffic violations.
It was Gardner’s fifth DUI conviction.
His blood alcohol content was no less than 0.108%, police wrote. The legal threshold for DUI in Pennsylvania is 0.08%.
Gardner did not take advantage of the “numerous breaks” he received for prior convictions, McGoron wrote in her six-page letter to Marshall.
“The defendant’s drinking is what has put him in the position that he is in, which he now wants to use as a reason to receive a lesser sentence,” McGoron wrote. “... The injuries he received based on his wildly reckless and criminal behavior should not be a basis for him to now avoid responsibility and an appropriate sentence.”
Gardner is scheduled to report to the county jail Monday. Marshall sentenced him to six months of house arrest after his jail term and fined him more than $4,000.
“I did not make a great decision,” Gardner said.